PHOTO: Margaret Shetler (left) of Scotts Mills and Louise Gingerich of Hubbard place tiny stitches in a multicolored quilt Thursday afternoon.

By Stephanie South

HUBBARD - Every Thursday, women from the Zion Mennonite Church meet at the church and swap cinnamon roll recipes, discuss their families and, most importantly - create beautiful quilts.

"It's (quilting) a good stress reliever," said Louise Gingerich of Hubbard. "I'm not an artist; I can't draw, but putting the fabrics together is a form of art. It really meets some of my creative instincts."

The women will share their love of quilting at the 28th annual quilting workshop Feb. 8, 9 and 10 at the Hubbard church.

The workshop will include a display of more than 100 quilts and comforters and daily demonstrations of each step in the quilt-making process.

"The quilting craze has never ended," Gingerich said. "It just seems to be gaining in popularity." Gingerich said the workshop draws an average of 1,000 people from Oregon and Washington over a three-day period.

"All sorts of different people bring in their own quilts to ask questions about them," Gingerich said. "We also have a learners quilt that people will be able to practice on."

Gingerich said that one year there was an article about the quilting club in "Sunset" magazine, and 2,000 people showed up for the workshop.

Each year, the women make quilts for three auctions, the Hope Village auction in Canby, the Western Mennonite School Benefit auction at the Salem Fairgrounds, and the Mennonite Festival for World Relief at the Linn County Fairgrounds in Albany.

Gingerich said a double size quilt takes an average of 18 hours to complete with six people working on it. The women agree that patience and practice are essential ingredients to good quilting.

"It's like anything you do with your hands," said Margaret Shetler of Scotts Mills. "The more you do it, the better you get."

The workshop hours will be from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Feb. 8 and from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Feb. 9 and 10. Homemade soup and bread will be served each day from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

There also willbe a room full of handicrafts from the "Ten Thousand Villages" program of the Mennonite Central Committee. All profits from these sales will go directly to the crafters in undeveloped countries who produce these unique works of art to support their families. Admission is free, but donations will be accepted for relief workers in India.

The Zion Mennonite Church is at 6124 S. Whiskey Hill Road in Hubbard. For more information or directions, call the church at 651-2274 or Chris Keady at 651-3445.

By Stephanie South

The public will have the chance to see first-hand the needs of Canby schools that will be addressed in the May 16 maintenance bond.

Ryder Transportation Co. is donating shuttle service from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 12, so citizens can meet principals and school officials at Canby's seven schools and see maintenance needs, including leaky roofs, worn gym floors and frayed carpets.

The school tours are one of the first attempts this year to raise awareness of the $30.8 million maintenance bond. The purpose of the bond is to repair and maintain school buildings throughout Canby School District.

The tour was brought forth by the Committee to Protect Your Investment and Provide Opportunities for Children's Future. ". . . People don't go into the schools every day, so they don't see the needs," said Roger Reif, chairman of the committee, "and seeing is believing."

School maintenance needs were identified by the Canby School District Board of Directors, along with citizen and staff committees. Some main concerns are: heating and ventilation problems; leaky roofs; overcrowding; limited handicap access; building security concerns; science labs that lack appropriate ventilation; and limited classroom technology.

The board believes these needs must be met to protect the investment in school facilities, increase student security, address growth in the community and provide additional space to meet the educational needs of the children.

"Our schools have needs and we need to take care of these needs," said Barb Kirwan, director of transportation for the Canby School District. "The first step is to raise awareness in our community."

Reif said committees have been formed and strategies have been devised to inform the public of the schools' needs since the defeat of the $31.5 million maintenance bond in November 1998. Since then, a number of citizen committees have sprouted up, including the Long Range Facility Planning Committee, a series of cost oversight committees made up of local contractors, and a K-5 Enrollment Committee.

Reif, a local attorney, said he thinks part of the reason voters rejected the November maintenance bond was because, "we had a very, very short campaign period."

"This year we have more of a chance to run a traditional campaign," he said. "We're trying to walk as many miles as we can so people know what is going on."

Interested citizens are encouraged to arrive at their school of choice between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. on Feb. 12; three shuttle buses will run from school-to-school every 20 minutes.

By David Howell

The Highway 99E traffic signal serving the new Canby Market Center will not be fully functional until September - at the earliest.

That means at least seven months of driving hassles - and potential dangers - for commuters and shoppers wanting to visit Fred Meyer and more than one dozen other stores in the new 99E shopping center.

Union Pacific Railroad Co. has reported its work crews will not begin essential work to its North Redwood Street rail crossing until July. Work had been earlier reported to begin in late April or early May, and was expected to be finished in July.

"We'll probably begin in July," said John Trumbull, Union Pacific's Portland-based manager of industry and public projects. "It has just taken that long to get the material ordered and work gang set up.

''(UP managers) looked at schedules and that (month) is what it turned out to be. I told them if there was any way to move it up the schedule then they should do so . . . It would take a couple of months to do the work . . . I've told the state. I'm not sure (developer) Gramor knows about it."

Trumbull said he found out about two weeks ago that the Canby project had been lowered in UP's list of priorities. The news of the major delay is sure to disappoint the Canby City Council, city staff, Canby Fire Department, ODOT, developers Gramor Oregon Inc. and local residents.

Mike Potter, a North Redwood Street resident, gleaned the extended delay information from conversations with Trumbull and ODOT. Potter said the delay will mean significant inconveniences for citizens, particularly those living on or near North Redwood Street. "I have real concerns," he said.

That's because the traffic light - which will be turned on Feb. 9 to be ready for Fred Meyer's Feb. 16 opening - will only allow three turning options. Drivers exiting North Redwood Street will only be able to turn right to travel southbound on 99E toward Canby. Barriers will prohibit any other turn.

Only when UP has completed its track, signal and gate work will the light be fully functional - allowing vehicles leaving North Redwood Street to drive north on 99E, or south on 99E, or straight across the intersection onto Sequoia Parkway and into the new shopping center.

Potter said the situation is worrying and should have been dealt with far more effectively by the involved parties. "I think it's atrocious, absolutely atrocious," he said. "The city has allowed Gramor to get in that position. Who appointed Gramor to be public spokesman for the city of Canby and ODOT? Gramor are protecting themselves for their own financial benefit."

That's not how Gramor sees it. "We were kinda the last to know" about the traffic light delay, said Gramor project manager Matt Grady on Monday morning. "I've just found out about it . . . He (Trumbull) said there were other jobs waiting equally as long as Canby's, if not longer."

Trumbull said projects in Salem and Marion County are higher up UP's to-do list. Grady said he asked if there was any possibility the UP work order for the Canby project could again be scheduled for a May start.

"He (Trumbull) wasn't very optimistic at all," Grady said. Grady also said he asked if petitioning management at UP's headquarters in Nebraska would help move the project forward. "I asked if we could submit a petition to Omaha, but he said it wouldn't do any good," Grady said. "The whole town is rooting for this, not just those living on Redwood Street. What else can we do to reiterate how important this is?"

News of the delay comes two weeks after Gramor mailed out notices regarding the traffic light. Gramor sent a Jan. 13 letter to North Redwood Street residents, including Potter, saying the UP work would be completed in July.

On Jan. 19, Grady told the Canby City Council the work would begin in May and finish in July. That news provoked a frustrated reaction from Mayor Scott Taylor and Councilor Barry Lucas, who felt work was being poorly coordinated among agencies and that the work timeline was too slow. A voice-mail message was left with Taylor, but a return call was not received by press time.

Councilor Roger Harris said he was "frustrated" by news of the UP delay. He said the city had expected all the necessary work would be efficiently coordinated, and that the traffic light would be fully operational by the time Fred Meyer opened.

Potter is also upset about new ODOT signs that have been erected along 99E - just north of South Pine Street for northbound traffic, and just before North Redwood Street for southbound traffic - which state Redwood Street is closed to the public effective Feb. 9.

Orville Gaylor, ODOT's traffic engineering department chief, said he had not heard about the sign saying the street would be closed, adding he would look into it promptly, Potter said.

"I've tried to get to the bottom of who authorized the sign with this wording," Potter said. "Frankly, that (sign) is putting me, my family, my friends and my neighbors who will drive onto 99E at jeopardy because the traffic on 99E isn't going to be expecting us at all."

ODOT reported to the city that the signs are standard and correct, said Jerry Pineau, Canby's community development director. Potter hopes and expects the city to ease access and travel on the roads around North Redwood Street.

He fears congestion and confusion will pose problems for many drivers, and believes homes and businesses near the Clackamas County Fairgrounds may soon find vehicles using their driveways and parking lots to turn around to get back on 99E.

The road closure effectively forces some drivers and residents to use the already hazardous 99E-Territorial Road intersection, which has been the scene of numerous accidents over the years, or use the 99E-South Pine Street intersection.

"We've been wracking our brains as to what can be done" to make the driving situation better, Pineau said. "The only thing we can advise is to use the South Pine intersection, which is safer than the Territorial intersection."

The Canby Fire Department responded to a car accident at 99E-Territorial on Sunday. It has responded to at least three injury accidents at the intersection of 99E-Redwood-Sequoia since late December.

Fire department, city and ODOT officials met last week to discuss an alternative ODOT plan for North Redwood Street.

"ODOT's redesign would make it only right-turn traffic (from North Redwood Street), but it doesn't make it very advantageous for us" in terms of emergency vehicle access, said Ron Yarbrough, fire marshal and assistant chief.

"Our stance is the same as the city's, and that's leave it as it is. ODOT, for some reason, doesn't want to do that. We're going to do everything we can to keep it the way it is now."

City and fire officials will meet with ODOT again on Thursday.

By David Howell

The $21 million Fred Meyer store in Canby is being primped and primed to open to the public.

Store employees are methodically working to stock shelves with $4.5 million worth of products, as electrical contractors continue to finish their tricky wiring work.

The new Canby Market Center store will open at 7 a.m., Wednesday, Feb. 16 - nine months after construction began.

The store will feature 225,000 products in its food, home, apparel, pharmacy, jewelry and home economics departments. About 250 full- and part-time employees will work in the 165,000-square-foot store. About 100 people are new hires, and the remainder of the store's staff are people who have moved from other Fred Meyer stores.

"About 150 employees have transferred here from other stores to work closer to home," said Rob Boley, Fred Meyer's assistant vice president of public relations. "Almost all of the 250 will live in the immediate area."

The company is still accepting applications for jobs, he added. "Sales will determine the number of employees we can support, plus how the community shops and at what times of the day," he said.

Darlene Fetters of Canby and Lisha Campbell of Woodburn took turns playing customer and checker last week, as did several other new employees. Both Fetters, wife of Canby Police Officer Tony Fetters, and Campbell, will work at the store's service desk.

"It's close to home for me," Campbell said of why she applied for the job. "I've basically grown up with Fred Meyer. Wal-Mart is wonderful, but here you can do anything."

Fetters also applied because the new store is close to home. "We needed another job," Fetters said. "I like Freddys. I'm glad it came in."

The hiring process was a lengthy one and included three or four interviews, both checkers-to-be said. They were most nervous about their "live" training scheduled for the following day at the Oregon City Fred Meyer store. "This is only our second day of training," Fetters said. "We've had CPR training, too, because we'll relieve the Playland workers on their breaks and lunches."

The Canby store will be open 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. seven days a week. Boley said he was pleased with the progress being made in finishing the store in time for its Feb. 16 grand opening.

"It looks like they could be ahead of schedule," Boley said as he surveyed various work being done within the store Jan. 25. "There's still construction to be done in the food area, which is always the last to be completed. We bring perishable products in the day before the store opens." Boley likes to view Fred Meyer as a collection of specialty stores under one roof. "Fred Meyer carries more product in less square footage than other retailers in order to provide greater efficiency," Boley said. "We are a very, very efficient use of land, and a very convenient way for shoppers to shop." Among the store's features is a Playlands area, which allows parents to leave their children with CPR-trained Fred Meyer employees while they shop. Playlands, which will have videos, games and toys, will be free to shoppers for one hour.

Boley said employees of the store, which is managed by Wilsonville resident Greg Parker, will get involved in numerous local charitable efforts. "We believe strongly in that," he said. "We try to encourage our employees to get involved in volunteer projects."

Boley said coupons will be given out to the first 1,000 customers through the doors, and special prize drawings will also be held.

The Canby Police Department is aware the store's opening will probably attract many local residents, which could cause traffic congestion problems along Highway 99E and roads leading to the Canby Market Center. Chief Jerry Giger said police recently met with Fred Meyer officials to discuss potential traffic problems.

"I think the traffic will probably be backed up to a certain degree," he said. "We will assign an officer to the area one hour before it opens. Our main focus is, of course, going to be on traffic. We don't anticipate any other problems, but we are shooting in the dark because we're not sure what the impact will be . . . We'll play it by ear, and see what happens."

A traffic light serving the Canby Market Center will be turned on Feb. 9, but will not be fully functional until Union Pacific Railroad Co. completes rail signal and barrier work.

The work was due to be completed in July, but Union Pacific now says the work will begin in July, and will be completed about two months later. But while Fred Meyer's retail presence in Canby is about to begin, the company's plans to open a store in Wilsonville are moving far slower.

"We're still trying to put a store in Wilsonville," Boley said. "We've just got to wait. They've got issues to deal with there, like transportation. We think we have a terrific plan, and we've got to continue to work with them (city officials)."

The first Fred Meyer store was established by Fred G. Meyer in Portland in 1922. The Canby store is the chain's 142nd multi-department store in six western states.

Fred Meyer Stores are part of The Kroger Co., which is reportedly the largest food and drug retailer in the United States. Fred Meyer is still headquartered in Portland.