ONLY IN A SMALL TOWN
When I [Phil Jonsrud] served on the Sandy City Council in the little, old 1913-built City Hall on Shelley Street for eight years from 1957 through 1964, we sometimes had important decisions to make, but much of the business was a routine of approving bills for payment, taking care of minor complaints, [such as] whether to better enforce the sprinkling hours, and other minor details. However, one evening comes to mind in about 1963 that jarred us from the routine.
It was on a summer evening when all of a sudden a loud burglar-alarm went off in the Proctor’s Clackamas County Bank building which was only half a block away at Proctor Blvd. and Alt Ave.
Everyone was quiet for a few seconds while it registered, then everyone jumped up at the same time. John Mills ran out to his pick-up, grabbed his hunting rifle from the rack and ran over towards the bank. He peered around the corner of Hoffman’s Sandy Market [now the Sandy Library in the Stone Building] to get a better view of the bank.
The rest of us followed John at a more cowardly pace (I would prefer to call it a “more prudent” pace) and cautiously peered around the corner of the store, not being sure if Bonnie & Clyde were cleaning out the bank vault and wondering where the get-away car was parked!
By then John, not seeing anyone, was circling the bank while brandishing his rifle and looking in the bank windows. Fortunately for us, it proved to be a false alarm.
But hey, there was a little bit of “Gunsmoke” in Sandy then and John was a real vigilante! He didn’t waste time to find Sandy’s one-man police force, who was probably asleep somewhere as he was responsible for keeping law and order 24 hours a day, seven days a week. John was ready to do a job that had to be done!
John was a born leader and “take charge” type of person. He had been a leader of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in Zigzag during the early days of the Great Depression and served as a Border Patrol officer during World War II on the California/Mexican border.
[Reviewing service on the Council,] it was a time to learn to do your own thinking and not just to go along with the crowd. I had the good fortune to work with great people, so this made the job enjoyable.
During the eight years [on the Council], Ruben Hoffman was mayor for six years and Mike Paluck for two. Other council people during that time were Duane Knapp, Ivan
Barker, John Mills, Carl Krieger, Keith Schneider, Raph Hames, Don Lundbom, Al Morner, Alvin Sheldon, Dean Wesselink, and Martin Bauman.
Another time when Hoffman was mayor, he wanted the members of the City Council to meet at the site of the City’s first water source known as the “Brownell Springs” located about six miles northeast of Sandy. It was on a Sunday morning and we thought it was to observe and know what was going on there.
Our local plumber was there doing some work, but the mayor soon put us to work doing some heavy lifting for a few hours. He figured why spend money for a helper or two when he could get the Council to do it for free. I’m sure he had a few laughs over it. He did watch expenses and had a great record as Mayor.
There was no “Public Works Man” in those days, just a “Water Man” with a wheelbarrow and shovels who had to wait quite a time for a backhoe and proper equipment.
Frank Rehberg was Recorder in 1957 and ‘58, then Ruth Loundree had a long term in that position. Scrubbing the City Hall floor and washing windows was just part of the Recorder’s job, and the windows didn’t get washed until we had a woman Recorder. Ruth Loundree was a great Recorder. She was diplomatic with the public, capable, hard-working, was a great representative of Sandy, and a great Mayor later on.
We can chuckle at these things now but it could have happened “only in a small town” and they are pleasant memories now.
Sourced from Hometown Sandy Oregon by Phil Jonrud, copyright 2011 by Sandy Historical Society, Inc.,70-71; and 80 Years in the Same Neighborhood by Phil Jonsrud, copyright 2002 by Sandy Historical Society, Inc., pages 91-92, with minimal editing. Photo from Sandy Historical Society, Inc. archives.
