Church helps with school move
NEWS BRIEFS: CCC holding Latino Festival; county news
robert crawford / clackamas review
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints organized a volunteer effort to help North Clackamas School District move into several new school buildings in Happy Valley, saving the district nearly $135,000.
Some 500 volunteers from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints came out to help the North Clackamas School District move furniture, supplies, books and library materials as it prepares to open three new schools.
“This is a huge undertaking that we’ve been thinking about all year,” said Scouters Mountain Elementary School Principal Karen Rush. “The number one problem has been the logistics; the part that was missing was the people and suddenly this gift of people came our way.”
Norma Larsen, director of public affairs for the church, said the week-long venture “went absolutely wonderfully, much better than we thought.”
Happy Valley Middle School, Verne A. Duncan Elementary and Scouters Mountain Elementary will open to students this September. A bond measure voters approved in November 2006 funded the new schools, built to relieve crowding.
The volunteers packed donated trucks with the supplies, though Larsen said “a lot of people, two at a time, just picked up tables and moved them.”
The volunteers also helped barcode books during the week.
Ron Stewart, assistant superintendent of operations, said the volunteer effort could save the district nearly $135,000.
Rush said that “allows us to put the money back into the classroom and not into the logistics of the move.”
College holding Latino Festival
Clackamas Community College will host Festival Latino, an opportunity for people from the Latino community to visit the college’s campus and learn about the Clackamas’ education and training programs, on Saturday, July 11.
The event is from noon to 4 p.m. in CCC’s Gregory Forum. Activities include guest speakers, face painting and activities for children, light refreshments, business and merchant displays, college tours, and salsa and folk dancing. The festival concludes with a soccer game at the college’s soccer field. All events are free and open to the public.
For information, please contact instructor Camilo Sanchez at 503-657-6958, ext. 2944 or camilos@clackamas.edu.
County will close Ten Eyck Road to rebuild culvert
Clackamas County has placed a 13-ton weight limit on the Ten Eyck Road culvert at Cedar Creek, and will be closing the road later this summer to replace the culvert and build a new bridge.
A routine inspection revealed scour damage to the culvert from the January storms. A follow-up underwater inspection on May 30 showed extensive scour undermining a portion of the bridge. In response, the County declared an emergency for the culvert, which includes setting the weight limit and moving forward as quickly as possible to hire a contractor to replace the bridge this year.
Civil Engineering Supervisor Mike Bezner explained that if the work isn’t started during the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife 2009 “in-water work window” (July 15 to Aug. 31), the road will have to be closed in September until summer 2010 when work would again be allowed.
The County is in the process of contracting with a bridge construction company and work is expected to begin around mid-August. Once a date is set, people and agencies in the area will be notified. The road will be totally closed during the duration of the project, which is expected to be completed within two to three months.
Emergency service providers will be notified and will make arrangements to ensure service is available throughout the duration of the project. Detour signs will be posted.
Progress reports will be available on the county Web site at http://www.clackamas.us/travel/closures.jsp.
County wins $684K for primary care services
The Health Resources and Services Administration/Bureau of Primary Health Care approved Clackamas County’s proposal for $684,000 in stimulus funding for capital improvements in its primary care clinic.
The Community Health division of Clackamas County’s Department of Human Services submitted a proposal in response to the funding available in the ARRA for federally qualified health clinics. Although the county closed its Sandy and Molalla clinics in 2008, it continues to operate the Beavercreek Clinic in Oregon City.
The County’s proposal includes funding to expand space for the dental program at Beavercreek, additional supplies and medical equipment, purchase of modular clinic space, and renovation at the Gladstone Children’s Center for a small primary care clinic.
“I’m very excited that we were able to obtain these federal stimulus dollars for expansion of our medical and dental clinics,” County Commissioner Jim Bernard said in a release.
The Gladstone clinic will be housed in the Gladstone Children’s Center, which is a unique and innovative model that brings a number of public and private child serving agencies together in one facility. Once operational (in about a year), the clinic will also be available to adults and other children. .
Clackamas County has been providing dental services in its Beavercreek Clinic since 1998, but the space has not been renovated nor the equipment updated since that time. The proposed renovation will add 220 square feet of space to the dental area, making room for a fourth dental chair, and equipment replacement.