Steam: hard work pays off for volunteer group
Riders aboard the popular Christmas tree train on the Chelatchie Prairie Railroad got a surprise the past two weekends: they were pulled by a steam locomotive.
Volunteers with the Battle Ground, Yacolt and Chelatchie Prairie Railroad (BYCX) group have worked to refurbish a 1929 Alco Minnerett-class steam locomotive. The locomotive was used on one of the three Christmas tree rides on Dec. 2, then returned to a shop in Chelatchie Prairie for minor repairs, and used again on one ride on Dec. 3.
Will Pickering, long-time volunteer with the railroad group, said more repairs were made to the steam locomotive, resulting in its use on one run on Dec. 9. Repairs to a valve linkage sidelined the locomotive for the rest of that weekend. Pickering said the locomotive will be back on the tracks Dec. 16.
Recent repairs include water fittings, water filters, headlight adjustments and sanders.
Pickering said the steam locomotive, at 85 tons, is lighter weight than the diesel locomotive otherwise used for train rides, and has more axles to spread out the weight. The diesel locomotive weighs about 110 tons, said Pickering.
Pickering said it takes about five hours to heat up the steam locomotive, which is done somewhat the night before use, and then finished on the day of running.
The locomotive burns recycled motor oil that has been partially re-refined. In the future, said Pickering, volunteers may acquire used motor oil from area auto lubrication businesses, and filter it themselves. Or they may use a heavier fuel which is the consistency of jello, he said.
The locomotive holds 2,000 gallons of water and 1,000 gallons of fuel oil. A full weekend of six, 6-mile round trip rides requires about 250 gallons of fuel, said Pickering. The locomotive uses 10 times as much water as fuel, Pickering said.
So far, a diesel locomotive has been used to pull the train from Yacolt to Moulton Falls, and the steam locomotive used on the return trip. The volunteer group hopes to continue to repair minor problems with the steam locomotive so that it could be used by itself without a diesel backup.
The volunteer group has spent a year refurbishing the locomotive. Work included removing all the pipes from inside the boiler to allow inspection of the boiler itself both inside and out. Boiler testing revealed some weaknesses which were repaired. Some previous repairs were found to have not been done correctly and were repaired as well, said Pickering.
Officials of the Federal Railroad Administration conducted a hydrostatic test of the boiler system, said Pickering, raising the pressure to 125 percent of optimum running pressure to assure it was in good working order.
Some replacement parts were made for the locomotive, said Pickering. For example, some of the locomotive’s six axles were re-created from axles removed from a different locomotive that were resized to fit.
The 1929 locomotive, referred to now as No. 10, was used for 14 years in logging operations in the northern Oregon coast by Crossett Western Company. It was then moved to California where it was used by the Hammond Lumber Company for 20 years. Hammon was later acquired by Georgia Pacific. The locomotive was acquired by the Fortuna, CA Kiwanis Club and sat on display in Rohner Park in Fortuna for nearly 10 years until insurance problems led to its sale in 1974.
Members of the volunteer BYCX group put up the money to buy shares in the the locomotive, along with a companion locomotive of the same type called the “803.” The previous owner retains a 7 percent interest in the engine. Some parts from the “803” locomotive were used as the No. 10 was refurbished.
More than $70,000 in boiler work was donated by the C.H. Murphy Boiler Co. on Swan Island in Portland. Joan Reed-Nickerson, who operates a boiler company with her husband, donated about $50,000 worth of sheet metal to the project. Pickering donated about $4,000 in parts, as have other members of the volunteer group.
Pickering said volunteers have devoted thousands of hours to refurbishing the steam locomotive since it was acquired in January 2003. Volunteers worked 15 hour days over the last six months--over 80,000 hours--to get the locomotive into its current condition.
The No. 10 is called a “282T,” said Pickering, meaning it has two front wheels, eight drive wheels, and two trailing wheels. The “T” means it has a tank for water rather than pulling a tender behind.
Christmas tree train rides will conclude for the season Sat.-Sun., Dec. 16-17, leaving the Yacolt station at 9:30 a.m., noon and 2:30 p.m. Douglas fir and noble Christmas trees are included in the fare. Pickering said part of the 9:30 a.m. run will be pulled by steam, and perhaps other runs during the weekend.
Reservations are required and must be prepaid by calling 686-3559.

New I-5/SR-502
interchange on target
Bids in December, work starts in spring
State transportation officials expect construction of a long-awaited interchange at I-5/SR-502 to get underway in spring 2007, as planned.
Officials estimate the $44 million project will be completed in 2009, also right on target.
Real estate purchases and other pre-construction work are nearing completion and state officials hope to solicit bids for the project this month, said Washington State Department of Transportation spokesperson Alissa Bateman.
State engineers settled on an interchange design in January 2005 after options were aired at public open houses. The selected design will widen and curve SR-502 slightly to the north starting west of NE 10th Ave. Westbound traffic on the new state route will either turn left before they reach the new interstate overpass to access a northbound ramp, or continue over the interstate to access a southbound loop ramp.
Southbound traffic on I-5 will reach SR-502 by exiting the interstate north of the interchange and connecting with the state route on the west side of the interchange. Northbound I-5 traffic will reach SR-502 by sharing a Gee Creek Rest Stop off-ramp and driving up a ramp east of the rest stop.
Bateman said the interchange was designed to handle the added capacity of a westward extension of SR-502 into Ridgefield. She said federal or state funds, and approval by state legislators, would be required for that extension of the state route.
State engineer Bart Gernhart agreed. He said designers wanted a configuration that could accommodate new interchange connections, and even allow for a widening of SR-502 to accommodate such changes in the future.
When the state route is extended, eastbound traffic would access I-5 via a ramp or continue over the interstate to a “free-flowing” loop leading to northbound I-5, said Gernhart.
Real estate
Bateman said 23 of 49 required real estate transactions have been recorded. She said the remaining transactions are in final stages of completing signature requirements and recording.
Acquisitions thus far include 12.52 acres of Mulford land at 21402 NE 10th Ave. for $291,200; 5.42 acres of Foresight land at 21922 NE 4th Ave. for $193,090; 5.40 acres of Kvacheva land at 22024 NE 4th Ave. for $500,000; .17 acre of Hall land at 1701 NE 219th St. for $150,000; .1 acre of Monahan property at 1613 NE 219th St. for $7,000; .29 acre of Jensen land at 1117 NE 219th St. for $256,900; .44 acre of Zumstein land at 21813 NE 10th Ave. for $316,050; .52 acre of Byers land, County parcel 179352000, for $39,200; .39 acre of Price land, County parcel 216929000 for $31,500; .67 acre of Goff land, County parcel 216898000 for $10,000; .24 acre of Hatcher land at 1207 NE 219th St. for $574,992; .44 acre of Holsinger land at 1301 NE 219th St. for $93,000; .17 acre of Beers land at 1603 NE 219th St. for $33,200; .14 acre of Beers land at 1601 NE 219th St. for $149,500; .12 acre of Roane land at 1707 NE 219th St. for $6,500; .38 acre of Tenex land, County parcel 217136000 for $78,600; 1.48 acres of Won property, County parcel 217137000 for $31,500; .03 acre of Benevidez land at 22312 NE 10th Ave. for $18,000; .07 acre of Jen land at 21416 NE 10th Ave. for $24,200; .34 acre of Holsinger land County parcel 1791544000 for $20,600; .34 acre of Boespflug land at 1907 NE 219th St. for $21,100; and .17 acre of Boespflug land at 1907 NE 219th St. for $18,900.
The March Family Partnership donated .33 acres of land from County parcel 216958044 to the project.
Transportation officials are planning to widen SR-502 (NE 219th Ave.) from the interchange east to Battle Ground. State legislators approved $15 million from the 2003 Legislative Transportation Package (funded by a five cent gas tax approved by voters) for project design and right-of-way acquisitions.
Legislators also earmarked $50 million of Transportation Partnership Account funds (from a voter-approved 9.5 cent gasoline tax) for construction.
Bateman said design work of the widening project is underway.
Map shows design of new interchange at I-5 and SR-502. Transportation officials say work on the project will start early next year.

Decision to sell float stirs controversy
Alice Perry Linker
staff reporter
La Center’s sternwheeler has been put in dry dock.
The city’s parade float featuring an early 20th century sternwheeler was sunk by the city council on Nov. 21, when the council voted 3-2 to sell the parade vehicle.
Council members Bob Smith, Dale Smith and Troy Van Dinter voted to sell, and council members Bill Birdwell and Linda Tracy voted against declaring the float surplus.
The decision came despite written and verbal testimony supporting the float from some dozen people. Tracy, who directs the annual Miss Teen La Center pageant, has volunteered with the float since it was purchased from the City of Lynnwood in 2004.
The float has traveled to several festivals in Southwest Washington, Tracy said, and in June, it participated in the Portland Rose Festival Starlight Parade. Tracy said the sternwheeler rode in 12 parades in 2005.
During the current year the city spent $7,600 on materials and staff time for public works employees to drive the float to the various parades, said finance director Suzanne Levis.
“What it does for community pride is valuable,” Tracy said after the meeting. “It’s a totally positive thing. I don’t think you can get anything better than the float for $8,000 or $10,000.”
Bob Smith, however, said he believes the float is a luxury the city can’t afford.
“There are other places we could put the money to benefit the citizens,” Bob Smith said after the meeting. “It’s time for us to move forward. I’m responsible for the needs of the citizens--police, roads, infrastructure. There’s nothing in the float to benefit the citizens or the businesses.”
Bob Smith said he does not think the float brings money or visitors to the city.
“There’s no return,” he said.
Van Dinter agreed.
“I didn’t feel the city should be in the business of a float,” he said. “It’s a great idea but it should be a community or chamber of commerce project. It should be like Battle Ground does theirs.”
The Battle Ground Rose Float, formerly owned by the Battle Ground Chamber of Commerce, is now owned by a private group. It has never been owned by the city.
Council member Dale Smith had a little different view of the matter.
“I was probably more willing to compromise than Bob Smith and Troy Van Dinter,” he said. “I had three questions and I could never get a clear answer.”
When Dale Smith asked or Jim Irish and the city staff about the 2006 float expenditures, “They were evasive, very slippery. I got different numbers and they increased,” he said.
Other concerns covered the benefits of the float and the administration of the parades.
“We need to make rules as to who’s riding on the float,” he said. “Who decides who will ride and how do they decide.”
Dale Smith said he believes only a small circle of La Center people benefit from the float.
“The people who march with the float benefit,” he said. “The Miss Teen La Center Pageant benefits from the float.
“I suggested they sell the float to a non-profit. We could do a public-private partnership and put La Center’s name on the float.”
North Clark County Chamber of Commerce President Murray Falk said that the float is the best way to promote the city, but the chamber cannot afford to buy or maintain the float.
“The community should step up and let their feelings be known,” Falk said. “You can’t measure the good in dollars and cents.”
The city’s next step is to look for bids for the surplus float, Irish said. The city government is not permitted to give it away because the float is owned by taxpayers.
“We have to get market value,” he said.
During the meeting, council member Dale Smith suggested that the city sell the float for $1, but Irish said that is not permitted because “you can’t give public funds.”
Irish said the value of the float is intangible, and presents a positive image of the city. He said the float gives an image beyond “a city of card rooms.”
“People see the history,” Irish said. “They see that La Center is more than just a gambling town.”
Tracy said several volunteers have worked on the float refurbishing or redecorating, and council member Birdwell has driven the decorated float in a number of parades.
“There is lots of community involvement,” Irish said. “Volunteers work long, hard hours, and people ask to volunteer. It’s not a closed club. It’s open to everybody who wants to help.”
Among those commenting was Clark County commissioner Betty Sue Morris, who did not take a position on the sale of the float, but wrote, “It’s all about name familiarity, and La Center, as a growth community, can certainly make its presence known in a number of ways, including a parade.”
Karen Dodds, chairwoman of the city’s annual summer Our Days festival, urged the city to keep the float and said to the council that the float is “successful by the standards originally laid out for it.”
She asked the council to give the float more time in order “to see the benefits more clearly.”

Council member arrested for DUI and hit and run
Heidi Wallenborn-Cramer
news director
Scott L. Hanson, 46, a member of the Ridgefield city council, was arrested for drunk driving and hit and run on Dec. 7 at the Ridgefield junction at I-5.
A bulletin from the State Patrol said that Hanson was seen by a state commercial vehicle officer at about 4:47 p.m. going past him at a “high rate of speed” on northbound I-205 in the area of NE 134th St.
After that, three other citizen reports of Hanson driving erratically on I-5 northbound were called in to dispatch just before Hanson allegedly collided with two other vehicles in the area of Carty Rd., the bulletin said.
The bulletin reported that Hanson was traveling in the right lane of I-5 near Carty Rd. when he came in behind two other vehicles in the right and center lanes.
Hanson reportedly veered to the left to pass between the vehicles and struck them both, with each spinning out of control. Both vehicles came to rest blocking the center and right lanes.
But Hanson, driving a 2004 Chevrolet pickup, reportedly veered right, went off the roadway and struck the end of a guardrail which caused the truck’s right front wheel to break loose.
Witnesses told state Patrol officers that Hanson made no attempt to stop and fled the scene on three wheels.
Eyewitness Karen Sangalli of Hockinson and her husband, Bill, took the southbound Ridgefield exit off I-5. They were headed east across the freeway bridge when she saw a pickup traveling up the off-ramp from the northbound side, she said.
Sangalli said the truck was noticeably “cockeyed” with the front bumper dragging and sparks flying as the driver raced into the gas station parking lot and spun in a circle, coming to rest facing the street.
Traffic stopped, Sangalli said, as other drivers waited to see what the pickup would do.
“We didn’t know if he was going to come out again,” she said.
The driver stayed in the vehicle and traffic proceeded, Sangalli said.
“We thought the truck had been stolen and in an accident,” Sangalli said. “It was obvious something was wrong. We knew that.”
Shortly thereafter, a Ridgefield police officer caught up with Hanson at the gas station and detained him.
Trooper Gabe Olson also arrived and found the pickup with “massive” front-end damage and a missing front wheel. He reported that there was a strong odor of alcohol coming from Hanson, and that he refused to perform field sobriety tests. As a result, he was arrested for DUI and hit and run.
During a routine pat-down after Hanson’s arrest, Olson found a small metal tube and copper steel wool, both with burnt residue, in Hanson’s front coat pocket, the bulletin said.
Hanson reportedly asked to be checked for possible injuries at Southwest Washington Medical Center. While there, he refused to answer Olson’s questions, but did submit a blood sample, the bulletin said.
Hanson was released to his family, and may face charges on DUI, hit and run, reckless driving and possession of drug paraphernalia, pending the results of the blood test and tests on the tube and copper steel wool.
Michael J. McCanta, 64, and Ivy McCanta (age unknown), both of Ridgefield, driver and passenger in the 2004 Chrysler minivan allegedly struck by Hanson, and Donald L. Brost, 54, and Elizabeth Brost, 58, of Ariel, driver and passenger of the 2001 Chevrolet pickup involved in the wreck, were uninjured in the collision.
City employee expresses concern
Hanson’s arrest came just three weeks after Ridgefield city employee Lindsay Warren spoke to Hanson and other council members during a council meeting.
Warren, reading from a letter, said she is “compelled to remain silent no longer,” on concerns about Hanson’s capacity as a council member and asked him to resign.
As that meeting began, Hanson announced that he was “lethally ill,” but did not elaborate or name his illness.
Warren said council members swear an oath to make impartial decisions but cannot do so when not in full control of their mental faculties.
Warren said she was embarrassed and offended by Hanson’s behavior Nov. 8 when he took a walk with about-to-be-fired city manager George Fox during a council meeting executive session on the matter.
Hanson’s was the sole vote against firing Fox.
Hanson said he wasn’t aware of what happened on the morning in question because he had accidentally taken more medication than prescribed.
“I got up to go to the bathroom, but instead went to the store with George,” he said.
Warren said council members need to send any council member home who is not in a proper frame of mind.
“I am ashamed that none of you had the courage to dismiss this member from the meeting, or at least request them to refrain from voting,” Warren wrote. “I am ashamed that you did not have the courtesy to talk to your peer privately regarding their behavior, and that I have to stand here today in defense of our community and bring further embarrassment upon the City, and most regrettably upon this individual.”
To Hanson, Warren said, “I ask you to seek help for whatever ails you, and refrain from attending meetings when you are not in a proper state of mind.”
Accused of DUI in 2005
Hanson was reportedly spotted by a citizen in July 2005 driving erratically into Ridgefield.
Ridgefield police investigated and reportedly found an intoxicated Hanson at home, and his car engine still warm.
But nothing happened until after election day in November 2005, when reduced charges of second-degree negligent operation of a vehicle were filed.
Fox has been accused of telling then police chief Bruce Hall to cover up the offense until after Hanson was elected to office.
Hanson and Fox were business partners during the time Fox was city manager.
Since then, Hanson was treated for substance abuse in Oregon.
Hanson could not be reached for comment.

Tweedell trial delayed
The trial of Terri Tweedell, charged with first, second and third degree theft, forgery, attempted theft and the unlawful practice of law, has been rescheduled to Feb. 14, 2007, following a readiness hearing set for Feb. 8.
The trial had previously been scheduled for October 2006, then moved to Dec. 18, 2006.
The several theft charges involve the assets of Jaroslav Sedivy, a man Tweedell had befriended and who passed away earlier this year.
Prosecutors allege that Tweedell, on more than one occasion, took money from Sedivy’s checking account for her personal use and used Sedivy’s credit cards for her personal benefit, among other charges.
Clark County prosecutors have filed amended information listing 18 counts which includes two counts of first degree theft, nine counts of second degree theft and two counts of third degree theft, plus three counts of forgery, and counts of attempted theft and the unlawful practice of law.
Prosecutors allege that Tweedell illegally prepared a Power of Attorney document and presented it to Sedivy for signature, and that Tweedell procured others to falsely sign the Power of Attorney as witnesses and notary even though they had not actually witnessed the signing of the document by Sedivy.
Prosecutors also allege that Tweedell forged a will for Sedivy that changed beneficiaries and had the effect of transferring Sedivy’s assets to herself.
Tweedell said last week that her use of Sedivy’s credit cards were for Sedivy’s benefit, not her own. She also said that Battle Ground police had told prosecutors that she, Tweedell, felt she was above the law.
Prosecutors seek a sentence above the standard range because she allegedly used her position of trust to facilitate the offenses and because she knew or should have known that the victim was vulnerable or incapable of resistance.
Tweedell was terminated from her position with the Battle Ground Chamber of Commerce following disclosure of the alleged crimes.