PHOTO: Knight School fifth-grader Justin Fromm's hair jolts to life after he touches a Van de Graff generator at the OMSI Super Science Fair at his school on Saturday.

By Stephanie South

Students petted a legless lizard and made friends with a boa constrictor Saturday at the OMSI Super Science Fair.

About 200 students participated in the annual fair held from 9 a.m. to 12:20 p.m. at Knight Elementary School.

A variety of workshops ranging from chemistry to bugs were offered by seven OMSI employees. Student's chose one- to three-hour-long workshops to participate in - and three workshops were offered bilingually.

"This (fair) gives the kids exposure to science in a way only OMSI can," said Carol Meeuwsen, community education coordinator for Canby Community Schools. "The learning environment was fun . . . it connects science with the real world."

Meeuwsen said the animal workshop, "Run, Slide, Swim or Hide," was a favorite among students. The workshop explored why animals behave and look the way they do and how different animals adapt to survive in challenging environments.

In the last 20 minutes of the workshop, students were allowed to handle the reptiles - except the rattlesnake.

"The kids were so respectful and comfortable having snakes wrapped around their necks," Meeuwsen said. "It was nice that they were introduced to the animal kingdom without a lot of fear."

Another popular workshop was "Cowabunga Chemistry," where students measured and mixed ingredients to produce substances with strange and surprising properties.

Students wore goggles as they dipped metal into different chemicals and then held it over a flame to see what color it produced.

"The kids were in total concentration," Meeuwsen said. "The room was absolutely silent . . . the kids seemed to be totally connected with what they were doing."

This was Meeuwsen's first year organizing the fair and she said she is grateful for the help of 25 parent volunteers and nine high school student volunteers.

"Overall, I think it was a very positive experience for everyone," Meeuwsen said. "The OMSI people really loved it here because the kids are so attentive."

By Stephanie South

Canby School District may soon be looking for a new middle school site due to a surge of student enrollment this past year.

Portland demographer Judy Barmack presented enrollment statistics at Thursday's district board meeting.

The statistics showed a growth explosion at Trost Elementary School this year - the school added 60 students which is an increase of more than 10 percent.

Barmack said with the current rate of growth at Trost, she projects the southeast Canby school could be 156 students over capacity by 2004.

Enrollment at Canby High School is also high with more than 100 new students. It now has 1,557 pupils.

Barmack suggested the district look for a new middle school site as soon as possible. A new middle school would allow the Ackerman Middle School Lee campus to reopen as an elementary school. The school is now being used as a middle school, due to overcrowding at Ackerman.

Ackerman currently houses 1,088 students, compared with 1,063 in 1998. Capacity is 1,200.

Canby School District Business Manager Don Staehely said he wants to create a committee to find a school site as soon as possible.

"I would like to call a group together right away and define our mission," Staehely said. "There's not that many available pieces of land, so we need to look now . . . There has been concern with having adequate land for a new school for awhile now."

The school board discussed the possibility of redefining boundaries for elementary schools to create more space at the overcrowded Trost.

"Everything that could cause growth is centered around Trost," said Barmack, adding that many new subdivisions and several apartment complexes are being built near Trost. The school also has the largest Hispanic population in the district.

Staehely said that another solution to Trost's overcrowding is to put up two modular buildings, which would create more space, increasing the capacity from 600 to 675 students.

School board member Guy Gibson said he vehemently opposed putting up modulars.

"This school was built for 450 kids with the capacity for 600," Gibson said. "There are now 626 kids and that's way too many. We need to put plans in place so we only have 600 kids at Trost next year."

Barmack reported enrollment at Carus is gradually declining and will probably continue to do so since it is outside the urban growth boundary.

"There is nothing here to drive enrollment higher," said Barmack, adding that another cause for the decline is that about half the Carus sixth-graders have elected to go to Ackerman.

Ninety-One School enrollment is also gradually declining for much of the same reasons as Carus, Barmack said.

She projects that Knight and Eccles Elementary will both remain at capacity, but not over, in 2004 because there is not much new housing.

Board Chairwoman Sandy Ricksger said she was surprised when she first heard about the increased enrollment at Trost and the high school.

"Now we know about it and we can't plead ignorance next year," Ricksger said. "We've really got to do our homework now to try to come up with a plan."

She suggested having a work session in March to discuss the possibility of a new school site and enrollment issues.

The school board agreed to resume the discussion at a later date.

By Cam Sivesind

The Clackamas County Fair and Rodeo is searching for a new manager.

Barbara Lawrence, who managed the Canby-based fairgrounds and the annual third-week-in-August event for the past nine years, stepped down as manager last month, after the fair board turned down her proposal to do the fair's top job on a part-time basis over the next two years.

Lawrence, 60, offered to work six months a year - two days a week for most of the year, part of June, all of July and August, and part of September, with "the full intention to completely retire in two years," she said.

Board chairman Bob Traverso said Lawrence's decision to sign up for her Public Employees Retirement System benefits early and her part-time management proposal were reviewed long and hard by the board.

"After lengthy discussions, the board decided it was not in the best interest of the fair," Traverso said. "It takes a full-time manager."

Lawrence said she has already been approached by a few fairs in Oregon and Washington to do consulting work, and she could possibly serve as an interim manager at another fair or handle specialty events.

Heading into what would have been her 10th season as Clackamas' fair manager, Lawrence said she enjoyed every bit of her fair tenure. She and her husband, LeRoy Buchanan, who is the fairgrounds' maintenance supervisor, live in rural Canby and plan on remaining Canby residents.

"It was a wonderful ride," Lawrence said. "It's a great fair. The people that work on it are completely dedicated, from the superintendents on down.

It's one of the most respected fairs in the state. It's been great; it's allowed me to meet people in the state."

John Hancock has managed the Klamath County Fair for 22 years and has served on boards alongside Lawrence.

"Barb's been an ally," Hancock said. "I think she's been good for the fair industry. I love her dearly."

Lawrence would be a natural to do fair consulting work, as she could pass on some of the knowledge she's gained during her years in the business, Hancock said.

"Years ago, we had state evaluators," Lawrence said. "I've had a couple fairs approach me to come give an outside opinion, do observations at their events. That's good for fairs."

Lawrence has served on boards of directors for fair associations in Oregon and Washington and currently is in the first year of a three-year term on the Western Fairs Association Board of Directors.

Lawrence will be plenty busy without the fair manager's job. She operates a flower business, Wild Goose Venture, out of her home with her daughter, Susie. The business focuses on specialty weddings and funerals. She used to run a flower shop in Port Townsend, Wash. She can be reached at 651-2400 for flower work.

She will also be busy being grandma to her daughter's twin babies, Caleigh (pronounced KAY-LEE) and Cole, now 4 months old.

And, there's the 1930s farmhouse Lawrence and her husband are restoring, as well as tending to the horses, chickens and hay on the farm located off Barlow Road, just past St. Josef's Wine Cellar.

"I'm going to go camping sometime in the summer," she said. "I want to take the horses out. I never got to do that before."

Lawrence said she will still attend the fair and rodeo, and will perhaps enter a few canned goods or flower arrangements for judging come August.

"I'll go to the fair, and rodeos are my love," she said. "I think it'll be great. I'll get to see all of those things I never got to see. We've always been good fair-goers."

It won't be quite the same this year, and Lawrence said she will miss the rush pulling off the annual event brings.

"I'll miss that energy surge," she said. "It's kind of like giving birth; it happens, then there's this postpartum depression. I like that energy level.

You can plan and plan and plan, and you watch people pull together and make things happen."

Being fair manager is a 24-hour job, she added. If the sprinklers go off at 2 a.m., the manager has to be there, she said.

Lawrence said she has been proud of the county fair each year.

"That's why a fair is unique, because of the participation of the people," she said. "It's for the little kids that come in and bring in their cake or a photo they've taken, or the senior citizen who brought in a doily."

Ron Burback Sr., owner of Funtastic Carnivals, called Lawrence's departure a "loss for the fair."

"She's got experience - years of it," Burback said. "You've got to know about chickens, cows, rabbits, carnivals, rodeos - and she knows it all. We had a very good relationship."

Burback's 40-year-old business has provided the carnival rides and gaming entertainment at the Canby-based fair for at least 15 years.

"It's one of the great fairs in the state," Burback said. "It's one of the few fairs you don't need big-name entertainment to draw people in."

Traverso wished Lawrence the best. "She's been a viable part of the fair over the years, and we hope she'll continue to be a part of it," he said.

Traverso cited Lawrence's professionalizing of the fair office staff and her help in establishing a rodeo committee as the top two highlights of her county fair tenure.

"She probably evolved to become one of the best fair managers in the business, and she'll be hard to replace," he said.

Advertisements for the fair manager job went out in local newspapers Saturday, as well as to other fairs in Oregon and Washington. The board would like to have a new manager hired within three months.

"We're actively soliciting," Traverso said. "The board will do the screening down to seven or so, then interview from there."

By David Howell

A Russian teen-ager who lunged at an Oregon State Police trooper with a screwdriver following a traffic stop near Woodburn faces attempted assault and four other charges.

A suspicious 1988 Ford Mustang was spotted Thursday night by Senior Trooper Jeff Leighty in a driveway at 12809 McKee School Road, southeast of Woodburn.

The trooper ran a check on the vehicle, which showed it had been stolen from Northeast 16th Avenue in Canby early Thursday morning.

The attack started when Leighty attempted to arrest the 16-year-old Woodburn boy sitting alone in the stolen car. The juvenile refused to exit the vehicle, so Leighty attempted to physically extricate him.

The juvenile then reached across to the passenger seat, picked up an 8-inch metal screwdriver, and tried to stab Leighty in the chest.

The 11-year OSP veteran avoided the lunge, deflected the weapon, and struck the suspect several times with a portable radio.

During the struggle, the boy dropped the screwdriver, and Leighty was able to pin him until another trooper arrived to help. Leighty, 44, was not injured.

"Fortunately for the officer, he was paying close attention, and spotted the screwdriver as a potential weapon," said OSP Lt. Gregg Hastings.

"Assaults on troopers happen occasionally, but the majority of assaults are with hands or feet. When they get to a weapon, it's rare."

The juvenile, who has not been named because he is under 18, was injured during the arrest and was transported to Silverton Hospital, where he was treated and released to police troopers.

"He is known to officers that work in that area," said Hastings, who refused to discuss the juvenile's prior police record.

The boy was transported to the Marion County Juvenile Facility in Salem, where he is being detained for second-degree attempted assault, unauthorized use of a motor vehicle, attempt to elude, reckless driving and an outstanding warrant for probation violation.

The elude and reckless driving charges are from a previous incident that occurred Jan. 11, OSP reported. He is reportedly on probation for stealing another car.

The juvenile was initially held on attempted aggravated murder charges, but the Marion County District Attorney's Office changed the charge to second-degree assault for arraignment purposes, Hastings said.

"Aggravated attempted murder is much more serious than assault in the second degree," he said. "The DA felt there wasn't sufficient evidence to justify the more serious charge."

The wheels of the violent incident were set in motion when the black two-door Mustang was stolen from outside a Canby residence at 7:11 a.m. on Jan. 20.

Canby Police Lt. Ken Pagano said the number and frequency of local car thefts has risen lately.

Another vehicle was stolen last weekend from Northwest 6th Avenue. It was totaled after a rollover accident on Haines Road in rural Canby, and the driver fled the scene, he said.

"We're seeing a lot more stolen cars," Pagano said. "I think it's for joy-riding and for transportation. From what I see, it's mainly a juvenile crime, but it varies."