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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 19, 1954)
Sunday, December IS, 1954 Water and Sanitary Districts Formied To Problems of Health FOURTEEN1 MEDFORD (OREGON) MAIL TRIBUNE Solve SybKarban Areas Connecting With City Lines; Many Being Served The post-war mushrooming of the greater Medford area has brought many growing pains. . Water and sewage problems are probably the two most pressing. With soil conditions unsuit able for septic tanks in most areas, except where there is con siderable land to dispose of the sewage effluent, well water sys terns are constantly in danger of contamination. Added to this is the health hazard of sewage run off standing stagnant in open ditches along the streets and roads where children play. . Many Formed Here Because of this situation, six water districts and two sanitary districts have formed since 1950 in the area near Medford. Two other water districts were formed a considerable time ago. At the present there, are five districts using city of Medford water, and two districts almost ready to connect, with the system. All the water districts except one are municipal corporations Those now served by Medford include the Midway (Berrydale), Jacksonville highway, Maple Park and Kenwood districts. The Myers lane group of users is or ganized as, a non-profit private corporation. Three other districts are or ganized but not now in service. They include the Charlotte Ann, Kings highway and Elk City districts. The former two are ex pected to be in service in the im mediate future. On Being Organized ' Added to this list is the Grandview area northeast of the city wihch is now in the process of being organized, an election to form district is due in the near future. Boundary hearings were recently completed with the county court. The five groups now using Medford water have a total of 794 connections, and serve about 2,400 persons. When the Char-j lotte . Ann and Kings highway districts are added, 225 more connections will be added, for about 675 persons. . The districts using Medford water consume about 77,000,000 gallons a year. Compared to the city's total system consumption of 3,000,000,000 gallons a year, this amounts to about 2.6 per cent, according to Robert Lee, assistant water superintendent. Health Problem. Cited . The prime importance of the consumption, however, lies in the suburban area's relationship with the city as a -health hazard. An epidemic could spread to the city after starting from septic tank seepage into a well. Lee pointed out that this hazard has been eliminated to a great ex tent by the use of pipeline water. The organization of the first water district, 'in the Berrydale (Midway) area in 1929, was be cause of a typhoid epidemic, Lee stated. The first 75 connections were made at that time, and since the district was small. only $13,000 could be spent for the installation. . L An inexpensive system was in stalled, with no fire hydrants. It lasted until this year when an $80,000 bond issue was voted to replace the entire system and install fire hydrants. The area involved lies about half within the Medford Rural Fire Protec tion district and half in the Cen tral Point rural district. It is mainly residential, with most of its business located within the Big Y marketing area. Jacksonville Highway The next district to be formed was the Jacksonville highway district, in 1938. Financing the pyoject was aided by 50 per cent federal participation. An excel lent system was installed in the beginning, and ' was financed from water revenues after the first year, Lee continued. The djstrict provides water and fire pj-otection to the area from the Medford city limits to about 400 feet west of Perrydale ave., and oh Lozier lane down to Stewart ave. It is the only district "with an elevated storage tank, located at the Oak Grove school. Tank capacity is 60,000 gallons, which provides adequate pressure for ffre protection. Growth in both the Jackson ville highway and Midway dist ricts has been extensive. The for rfer has grown from 90 to 283 slrvice connections, and Midway f iom 75 to 355. Pcivale Corporation The Myers lane group formed i private corporation in 1952, ypth each shareholder borrow ing from the Farm Home ad njinistration to finance the total cpst of about $14,000.. No hy drants were installed. Fourteen connections are now included wSth the group. The Kenwood district, which vSas formed last year and began service last summer, now has 63 connections. The district is main ly residential, located north of McAndrews rd., between Biddle r2. and the old Crater Lake hjghway and Morrow rd. on the north, with a few small sections optside this area. Mhe Maple, Park district, I ' - 1 - yfey-i.. INSTALLATION Shown is a portion of the Charlotte Ann water district installation south of Medford near Phoenix on Highway 99. A ditch digger is shown in operation last week, with the pipeline ready for installing in the foreground. - Construction is expected to be completed within the week and water service begun in the near future. The district will serve about 300 people to start with, as well as businesses along the highway. which now serves 79 connec tions,, was organized in 1952 and received its first water in 1953. On Jan. 10, the district residents will vote on a $10,000 bond issue to extend the system to about 100 more persons. There are no hydrants. Initial cost was about $26,000. The dist rict is located west of the city in the McAndrews rd. and Ross lane area. 125 Connections Pipelines for the Kings high way districts, which will have about 125 connections, have now been installed. The district was formed this year, with the instal lation costing about $65,000. It is located south of Stewart ave. to Shaffer lane, between Kings highway and Peach st. Work is now being completed on the Charlotte Ann. district," where about 100 connections will be served. Cost of the instal lation of pipelines and hydrants is about $75,000,- accordmg to A. D. Harvey, engineer for the district. The pipeline is located along Highway 99 south ' from the proposed armory site almost to the city limits of Phoenix. The most recently organized district, Elk City, extends from the site of the Crater Lake Ma chinery company, North .Pacific highway, to the city limits of Central Point. It includes the Elk City area and is bordered on the east by the Midway dist rict. Preliminary plans and fi nancing are now being dis cussed, by district officials and it is hoped to call for a bond election in the immediate future. Industrial Area The Elk City district will serve an industrial area along Highway 99 and also provide a second trunk line to the city of Central Point, to double its water supply. City of Medford employees maintain all district mains on a cost-plus basis. The Medford water commission has set a pol icy of charging water rates out side the $ity the same as a pri vate utility, Lee pointed out. This means a rate based on the $5,500,000 investment by Med ford residents in the whole water system. Each district, in turn, sets its own rates, based on its investment costs, Lee ex plained. , By providing the outside serv: ices, the commission obtains a lowering of each unit cost by in creasing its overall volume with use of the same primary installa; tions. Besides a monetary fac tor, the commission offers the connections for assistance in the health problem, and for the gen eral economy of the whole area, the assistant water superin tendent said. Pure Water j In return for the payments, suburban residents obtain water which for- the past four years has been 100 per cent free of bacteria in each of. 240 samples taken annually. The water is also free of all solids. It is 99.9913 per cent free of solids such as silica and other dissolved metals. . - Action is also pending on both the county's two sanitary dis ricts. The oldest, the Table Rock FIRE PROTECTION Shown is a new hydrant installed on Charlotte Ann rd. south, of Med ford during recent construction in the . Charlotte Ann water district. , By installing water mains, district residents will benefit by increased fire protec tion by having hydrants through out the district. The area is within the. Medford Rural Fire Protection district. Sanitation district, located adja cent to the principal sewer main im Camp White at Four Corners, is negotiating with the city cm proposed charges before it votes a bond issue ' for construction, according to Irving Allen, attor ney for. the district. The South Bear Creek Sani tary district, formed this year, includes about the same area as the : Charlotte Ann water dist rict. A $58,000 bond issue has been approved' and the district hopes to get plans for construc tion ready in the near future. Pioneering Work - Harvey pointed out that the local districts are "pioneers" in the field. Only a few other sani tary districts have been formed in Oregon, the closest being at Roseburg. The city of Medford is now al most surrounded by water dist ricts, except in the Orchard Home dr. area, southwest of the city. Instead of small' districts be ing formed on a limited basis, as has been done, Harvey has proposed a Metropolitan Sani tary -and Water district from Talent north to the Rogue riv en The proposal would utilize Medford's Camp White sewage plant and water system. ; Whether or not it 'is ever adopted will remain for the fu ture to tell.- However, at . the rate such districts are how . be ing formed,, a 'good portion of the area seems destined to be connected with ' Medford's ever growing distribution" and collec tion systems and before too long. . . :- -. . I A IPojumsetitSas You are cordially invited to come see all our lovely Christmas plants. PINK CHRISTMAS BEGONIAS WHITE, PINK & RED POINSETTIAS , " . AFRICAN VIOLETS POTTED MUMS DISH GARDEN PLANTERS AZALEAS .... See where they are grown. Choose your own from hundreds. Browsers welcome! Open 24 hours and Sundays.' Deliveriesv S&H Green Stamps ROGUE VALLEY GREENHOUSE 625 Franquette Phone 2-9384 Four Tree Farms, Tolling 81, Acres, 000 Dedicated Four Jackson county, tree farms totalling approximately 81,000 acres were dedicated here Friday night at a meeting of the Southern Oregon Conservation and Tree Farm association. They brought ; the county's dedicated tree farm acreage to more than 200,000 acres on nine tree farms. Certificates were presented .to B. L. Nutting, for Medford Cor poration; William Schmidt, for Oregon Switzerland Tree Farm; J. W. Fitzgerald, for the 3B Tree Farm, and to Albert Straus, for the Sams Valley Irrigation Association Tree Farm. By Two Agencies Certification was made by two agencies, the Western Pine asso ciation, and the Industrial Fores try association. Medco and Ore gon Switzerland received certi ficates from both organizations, while SVIA and 3-B received Western Pine association certifi cates. Western Pine association cer tifies pine tree farms, and Indus trial Forestry association certi fies fir tree farms. U. R. Armstrong, president of Western Pine associations, noted in his presentation address that the joint dedication sponsored by the two regional associations is unique. This is the only area, he said, where the fir and pine timber belts overlap. Cites Support ' Armstrong noted a "strong community support" for tree farms in southern Oregon and praised SOCTFA and local soil conservation districts for back ing the tree farm movement on a local level. Community groups -'. have a great opportunity in the west to back tree farming, the Western Pine official declared. He point ed put that, , in general, the larger private timber holdings have taken up the tree farm pro gram, and .community groups can do the greatest good by con centrating on, boosting tree farming among the owners of certificates were presented by smaller timber holdings. ." Industrial Forestry association Floyd Hart, of Timber Products company, who is vice-chairman of the association. " Hart noted that tree farming is a unique program in that those who op erate tree farms have little chance, in their own generation, to reap the benefits of their ac tions and teachings, t' KOG Commendations During the evening, three Keep Oregon Green association commendations were presented by Jim Dunlevy, acting for KOG Executive Secretary : .1 Wisendanger, who was unable to be present. ' The commendations went to AEC Planning To Strip Mystery From Menace of H-Bomb Fallout Jorgen Jorgensen, owner of Jorgensen's dairy, for using the KOG emblem on milk cartons; to Fred and. Mike Beck, owners of Beck's bakery, for using KOG's "Smoky Bear!' stickers on their bread wrappers, and to Walt and John Garner, of Cal Ore Machinery company, . for using the KOG slogan on the firm's 1955 calendars. It was announced at the meet ing that the Sierra Cascade Log ging' cdhfererice will ' be " held Feb. 17-19 next year at Redding,, Calif. Several local men will take1 part in the program. Guests Attend i . Special guests at the meeting included : State Rep. Ed Mann, Assistant State Forester Dwight Phipps, Josephine ' and Jackson county officials, Mayor George Burr of Coquille, officials of the Southern Oregon Truckers league, and representatives of the U.S. Forest Service, the Bu reau of Land Management, the Soil Conservation Service, and the State Forest Patrol. SOCTFA President Glenn Hunter presided at the meeting, and L.',L. Simpson, forester and secretary-xrianager for SOCTFA, presented the secretary's report. BPA Set To Spend $35,000,000 in '55 .Portland (U.R) Bonneville Power administration Saturday announced the scheduling of $35,000,000 expenditures for new and improved facilities dur ing 1955. ( - The figure includes $6,487,000 for contract construction work, according to administrator Dr. William A. Pearl. Pacific North west contractors will be invited to bid on 182 miles of right-of-way clearing at an estimated cost of $1,485,000; 200 miles of transmission line construction, $2,499,000; 24 substation addi tions, $2,082,000; six new. sub stations, $405,000, and four ra dio stations $16,000. , Dr. Pearl said administration expenditures during 1954 total ed $40,000,000,' including $6, 594,000 in contract construction. Construction activity during the next year will center on completion of high voltage trans mission lines from McNary dam to Portland-Vancouver, lower Willamette valley and southwest Oregon load centers, and from Chief Joseph dam to Puget Sound and Olympic Peninsula load centers. Washington (U.R) The At omic Energy commission plans to strip some of the mystery off "fallout" the radioactive men ace 'wnich has extended the H bomb's deadly range and 'posed a tough new problem for civil defense planners.; AEC Chairman 'i Lewis L: Strauss disclosed Friday that the commission's medicine and bi ology, weapons applications, and research divisions are making a study of this "very important subject." . Will Present Results ; ,' : , : At some future dates, unspeci fied, he will present the results of the study at a" new confer ence. He made it clear that the AEC knows enough now about fallout tb be convinced that fu- San Francisco's Central Fire Alarm station is housed in a fireproof building located in the center of Jefferson Square park. o - 4 4 9 4 COMING $2,141 Collected by Police Court in Month Medford city police court re ceived $2,141 in fines for 244 cases during November, accord ing to the monthly report by Judge James Main. Meter fines for Mthe month totalled $1,036, making the total received for the month, $3,177. A total of 49 overtime parking warrants for arrest were issued, resulting in $154 in revenues. Thirty-five drunk cases headed the list of violations with $270 in fines levied. Among others were 30 viola tions of basic rule, $275; 21 expired vehicle tabs, $100; 21 illegal parking, $77; 13 failure to yield right of way, $110; 10 driving under the influence of intoxicating liquor and reckless driving, $805, 'and 11 failure to stop at red light, $55. Dead line for Sunday Classified is at noon Saturday. ture weapons tests may be car ried out without undue nsK. Strauss' said the current study will not affect tactical A - bomb tests scheduled, for the Nevada Proving Ground early next year. And he said the AEC plans to continue using the Marshall is land H-bomb test area in the Pacific', as developments war rant. Unofficial speculation .-is that the new H-bomb tests are in the works for next fall. . Fallout is a consequence of both A-bomb and H-bomb explo sions, but the H-bomb has ampli fied it by what the scientists call a new "order of -magnitude."! Normally, if a bomb goes off high enough in the' air, radioac tive particles generated by the explosion are dissipated harm lessly in the upper atmosphere. Hot Particles Fall - ' ' ' . But if rain falls through the bomb . cloud, or if the explosion is low enough to scoop up and hurl pulverized soil into the air, "hot" particles may fall in leth al quantity downwind of ?the burst. On March 1, 1954, the world got an unpleasant lesson, in the hazards of H-bomb fallout. On that day a U.S. hydrogen bomb undff icially reported as equal in power to 15 million tons of TNT, was exploded at Bikini in' the Marshalls. A short time later, radioactive coral dust rained down on 23 Japanese fishermen going about Iheir business 71 miles away. All became sick. Last September one of . them died. r ' APPLIANCES : ...means bUD: SAuTOSl : warehouse-to-you : on horns appliances S K ?9BftCBftSSKSSBC available at CENTRAL POINT 'MEDFORD Returned to Medford " Dr. ROBT. E, LEE, Optometrist , .. OFFICES NOW OPEN AT THE J BIG Y MARKET BUILDING '- 1912 N. Pacific Hwy. - EASY PARKING Phone 3-5923 am Plan NOW To . Enjoy Your 0 The Pick-Up That Never Lets You Down TUESDAY, DEC. 21st : y : -' . to the , Assembly of God urcn at nnanv v nvp a? 2 GREAT CHRISTMAS FILMS. Gh Oh Holy Night", 1 ' featuring THE NATIVITY STORY in Color and I "A Boy and His Bible'' s A Christmas Story ; S EVERYONE - WELCOME! I 4 TREATS FOR THE KIDDIES ! Wishing You a Merry Christmas Pastor Rev. Ronald Curren at Your Favorite Restaurant ! All the goodness of a home-cooked meal with np fuss, no dishes to do. Excellent service; all the "extras" you love. Re serve your table today and be SURE to -AT HO) EXTRA COST! S p,enty of M,LK T if costt M Ma u ry's Corner Eaton's Dinner House Trailways Cafe Hotel Medford Lulu's Cafe ; El Rogue Cafe Red Streak Cafe ' - -Rogue Valley Country CluV Busy Bee Cafe ' ; Holiday Inn Coffee Shop ' Steak House Cafe Hotel Jackson Brown V Cafe Wimer Cafe Whistle Stop Cafe Big Y, Super Market 'Kim's Restaurant . Top Notch Cafe Maid-Rite Sandwich Shop Al White's Rogue Restaurant. Groceteria Othar restauranH er :efes wishing to ceoperato and b imciuM en our future ads Call' Med ford 2-8212. Ad paid by Milk Producers League and Jackson County Pomona Grange. Sparkling New-Season Displays in Medford's Fine Shops and Stores. ' !- M one y When You Shop in Medford - Shopping Center for Southern Oregon and Northern California. Published by The , Mail Tribune in Cooperation with Medford Retail Merchants Jilt ft! 4k! Ik! A A Jk it
