Front Street Weekly; 724

[Music and sound effects] police, fire and medical. 911 it's It's becoming the universal number for emergency assistance. But now 911 dispatch centers nationwide need help themselves. Most new operators don't even finish their training before they quit. Tonight we'll find out why this job is so tough. And learn about a unique local program that could solve the shortage of trained dispatchers Condon Oregon. This small community like so many others is struggling to survive. Residents tried a novel approach to bolster the city's sagging economy. They advertised for new residents. Tonight we'll follow up on Condon Oregon's campaign for citizens. Don't worry he won't get far on foot. There is no subject too delicate no

idea too outrageous for a Portland cartoonist John Callahan. Tonight we'll find out what John [Reporter] Callahan thinks is funny and why. [Guest] I see physical disability impairment as a [Guest] humorous thing in a lot of ways. [Reporter] Good evening. Welcome to this edition of Front Street Weekly. I'm going to Gwyneth Gamble Booth and I'm Jim Swenson. Tonight's first story is a call for help from the very people that we turn to in times of crisis. Every day 1000s of people dial 9 1 1. The people people on the other end of the line are in a very high stress job and many of them are quitting because they can't handle it. Resulting in a shortage of 9 1 1 dispatchers. Reporter Jeff Shaffer takes a look at the problem and what's being done to overcome it. In a house or apartment? A house. [Unintelligible phone call] [Unintelligible phone call ] [Dispatcher] He's got a gun [Child] He's got a gun [Dispatcher] Are they inside that address. [Child] Yes they are [Dispatcher] OK how old are you? [Child] I'm 8 [yellling in background] he's beating my mom

[Child unintelligible] [Dispatcher] Okay the police are on the way. What is- is he hitting her? [Child crying] Yes [Dispatcher] Can you see if he still has the gun? [Child] He does. [Unintelligible phone call] What you just heard was a real call that came into the 911 center here at Kelly Butte in Southeast Portland. Luckily, nobody was shot during that incident. But for the 911 operators, dealing with violent family arguments is just one part of a complicated and highly stressful job. These people never know when they will be plugged into the middle of a life-or-death situation, and it's a job that's becoming more critical every day because of the way technology has advanced in the field of public safety. During the past 15 years, the 911 system has spread all over the U.S., and what it means is you only have to remember one number to report all kinds of emergencies, and you can even dial it free from most pay phones. Report anything from a traffic accident to a chemical spill or a robbery. While nine one one makes things very simple for people on this end of the line. It's created all kinds of new responsibilities for the people who have to take those calls.

[Dispatcher] Were you involved in the accident, sir? A lot of times, I just want to go home and not have any input. No telephones, don't talk to me for a while, just let me not hear any noise coming at me. [Dispatcher] OK, bye. [Reporter] Nancy Wilson has been a Nine one one operator for 11 years so she knows all about how busy the workday can be. Kelly Butte is the biggest 911 center in Oregon, handling about 2,300 calls every day. By 1990, they expect to be getting a million calls a year. Not every one is a life threatening emergency. But a crucial part of the Nine one one operator's job is making quick decisions about the seriousness of each case. [Dispatcher] Right but he's threatened to burn your house down, ma'am? But he, what, came over to your house and pounded on your door? [Reporter] The key problem right now at 911 centers everywhere is that they don't have enough people like Nancy -- people who can master all the details of the job and then stick with it for the long term. If the Kelly Butte center had a full staff, there would be 102 operators. But, currently, there are just 60 fully trained operators, about 23 more in various stages of training, and the other slots

are vacant. Paul Stein is operations manager at the center. [Stein] We've had people that have been here for a couple months, and then they realize that they are going to ultimately be making these decisions that could affect someone else's welfare. And some people just don't feel comfortable with that. [Dispatcher] Okay [unintelligible] [Reporter] It can take anywhere from nine to 18 months before a 911 operator is fully trained at a cost of up to $50,000. An experienced Nine one one dispatcher can look forward to making a salary of about $25,000 a year or more. Unfortunately, many of them never complete the training. At Kelly Butte and other centers, the dropout rate is sometimes as high as 60 percent. The shortage means that it's not unusual for operators to get forced overtime, or they may have to keep working through a lunch break. It's one more aspect of the job that adds to the daily burden. A major problem in hiring 911 operators is that it's very hard to know what kind of person can handle this job. Paul Stein even used a psychologist to evaluate applicants, but that experiment didn't work out very well.

[Stein] It was kind of interesting. At the end of about a year and a half working with us, his comment as he was moving on to another project was, "I've effectively hired more people for you to terminate." 'Cause we, in fact, had hired our, our attrition rate have been higher and those classes that he worked with than it had been prior to that. [Dispatcher] Police, fire, or medical? [Reporter] While she talks to each caller, Nancy Wilson is also communicating with other 911 operators around the center. Through her computer terminal, she can route the necessary information to the proper desk. [Dispatcher] OK, I suggest you just stay in the house and try not to have another confrontation with him and I'll have an officer come over, and he'll talk to both of you about it, okay? [Reporter] The actual dispatching of police cars and ambulance service takes place at other work stations. Fire calls are routed to a separate dispatch center. The operators rotate every few hours, which means they all have to deal with call-taking, emergency medical service, and police procedures. It's a wide range of skills that many trainees simply can't pick up fast enough. [Brant] They can't do it, they become frustrated, and they quit. Or, we have to let them

go because they haven't been able to meet our standards. [Reporter] Diane Brant is communications manager at the Washington County 911 center in Beaverton. [Unintelligible] [Reporter] This is a smaller operation than Kelly Butte and also uses different equipment, but that doesn't mean the job is any easier. In looking at how the 911 system has evolved, some experts say the biggest change for operators is the handling of medical emergencies. [Brant] Emergency medical dispatch giving instructions of maybe CPR if somebody is not breathing. Five years ago, we didn't do that. Five years ago, we took an address and said "Bye. We're on our way." Now, we'll spend the time with a caller and maybe save some lives. [Dispatcher] Is she conscious now? [keyboard typing sounds] [Dispatcher] Is she...about how old would you guess she is? [Reporter] Even after an ambulance is dispatched, the operators keep trying to get more information from the callers. That flip-book Nancy is looking through is a quick reference guide that tells what certain symptoms can mean. Many operators here have instructed callers on how to perform the Heimlich maneuver, artificial respiration, and some have

even delivered babies over the phone. [Bradshaw] Our job in the communication center and the people who are, are doing 911 services to get as much information as possible to help the public safety agencies do their job when they actually respond to the call for help. [Reporter] As the 911 coordinator for Clackamas County, Farrah Bradshaw works at one of the most up-to-date communication centers in the country. [Dispatcher] Patient has a history of seizures. 35 year old female she's on the second floor in the food stamp area [Reporter] Built just two years ago in Oregon City. This Nine one one center is using state of the art equipment. It also includes lots of extra floor space so it can be expanded as the population grows. But there's still the problem of hiring enough good people to fill those spaces. And like other nine one one centers this one has found that a lot of new workers can't make the cut. We're asking these people in our communication center to know 1900 square miles. We're asking them to know where 16 cities are. And that takes a lot of studying geography.

OK the next bridge we're going to work our way south. The next bridge that we're going to talk about is which bridge. Geography presents Nine one one operators with another huge responsibility they have to know how to send police cars and ambulances on the fastest routes and they also have to know the boundaries for various police and fire districts inside their coverage areas. It all adds up to thousands of details that can play a role on each call they take. So you need to kind of ask questions to make sure you're talking about the same bridge. Or which bridge you're talking about, people get them confused. This class is at the Kelly Butte center in Portland. Up to now the various 911 centers have each carried out their own independent training programs. But as the attrition problem has increased 911 officials in the tri county area got together and began working on a different system, one that would give potential applicants a solid background in 911 skills over a long period of time before they ever applied for a job. With any new business or any new endeavor. Training becomes the key, the key and the focal part to the success of any endeavor.

And the colleges, particularly community colleges must respond to this type of need. And that's exactly what we've done here. Jim Brulé is a former assistant police chief in Portland who is now department chair for public service at Clackamas Community College. John Karloff is Chair of Career Programs at Portland Community College. Together they have been working with a local 9-1-1 dispatch centers to come up with a unique program. Starting next fall both colleges will be offering a one year course of study in 9-1-1 dispatcher training that will combine classwork with on-the-job experience. This is believed to be the first program of its kind in the United States. [Karloff or Brulé] This kind of collaboration then gives us the opportunity to develop uh joint uh coordinated practicum placements between the institutions so that students in Clackamas can, you know get job experience that in institutions that are within our district and conversely PCC (Portland Community College) students can become exposed to state of the art technology that's down in Clackamas. [Brulé or Karloff] Our goal of

course not only is to provide a training, um oh a training unit for these dispatch centers. But to reduce their attrition rate so that when a person is hired they're hiring them for a career. [Jim] The classes will be taught here at the Cascade campus of Portland Community College and also at Clackamas Community College. Only 30 students will be accepted into the program at each campus. 9-1-1 officials don't expect that every student who enrolls in the program will actually apply for a job but they're hoping the graduates who do apply will have a big head start when it comes to mastering all the details of 9-1-1 dispatch. [Stein] The class is intended to give them the basics and more depth than we can afford to give them in our present classroom configuration. They will get a full semester of some courses that right now we have to do in a day. [applause] [Jim] In April officials from the 9-1-1 centers and the two colleges got together to formally announce the details of the new program. And while everyone involved in the effort has high hopes

it's going to be several more years before anyone can judge how well the program is really working. 9-1-1 managers say that bringing down the high attrition rates is a long-term goal. For now, the 9-1-1 centers have to continue with their current training methods as they try to keep pace with the growing number of calls. And each operator knows that every time the phone rings it may be the most important call of someone's life. This is one of those cases where no amount of technology can ever replace the talents of skilled workers in holding the system together. Even if we invented machines that could perform all the 9-1-1 functions, it's doubtful they would be effective or even appropriate. After all when a person is calling out for help the one thing they want to hear in response is another human voice. [Dispatcher] OK are you talking about a burglary, sir? OK what's the address? [Gwyneth] The deadline for applying to the 9-1-1 dispatcher program is June 15. You can call Portland Community College or Clackamas Community College for more information. [Jim] There is a small town in eastern Oregon that's also looking for a few good people.

Condon was once a prosperous agricultural community, but now it's fighting to survive. The town drew national attention two years ago for the rather unorthodox way that it attempted to attract new residents. Well, tonight we're going to go back to Condon to see how the campaign has worked. [Siren sound] It's noon in Condon, Oregon -- population 710 -- 70 miles southeast of the Dalles in the hills of Gillium County. This is Eastern Oregon at its best and worst. The climate is dry, and these wide open spaces provide outstanding hunting and fishing. But there are only a few jobs in town -- and few jobs mean a dwindling population. [Male Interviewee] Our population is going down, and so we're looking for something to bring it back up. More people. [Jim] Agriculture has been holding this town together since incorporation back in 1884.

It was called Summit Springs then. The name was changed about 50 years ago. The boom years for this community came in the 1950s lasting until the early 70s. The population was 1,300. The Kinzua Mill moved out and the Air Force closed the radar base. Two hundred fifty jobs were lost. The population dropped to 700. [Male Interviewee 2] What we really need are companies. We need jobs. [Male Interviewee 3] And jobs are awfully scarce in this, in this town. [Female Interviewee 1] Not all rural communities are going to survive. And those most of those that don't survive, a leading factor is going to be apathy. [Male Interviewee 4] We can't stay the way we are. If we--if we want to survive at all, we really need to work at it. [Jim] No one is ever in a hurry around here. Condon's the kind of town where pay phones still cost a dime. There are no traffic lights. No one locks their front door. And just about everyone is related to almost everyone else in town.

Like the town sign says: It's the People. These people want to survive. They want Condon to survive. And just like the Marines, Condon advertised for a few good residents to join the town of 700. [Male Interviewee 4] What was the simplest way- thing to do was just advertise that we did have. These amenities like clean air and low crime rates and inexpensive housing. [Male Interviewee 2] The idea was that no one can say anything negative and imagine the impossible. The best things that could happen and on that basis we started the ad and mailed it to... [Jim] The impossible did happen. People came. About 70 folks moved in since March of 1986 mostly retired people. Russ McDonald is a new resident from San Jose. He bought a house his first day in town. [McDonald] You can move to a small community and still be just as comfortable as you are in a major city and you don't-you just don't need all the people and all the traffic.

[Kozik] And we drove into town and found this house and this is--in 10 minutes we owned it. My wife fell in love with it. [Jim] Kozik got a brochure about Condon from the Los Angeles Times. That was after seeing a news story about the town advertising for people. That was two years ago. Now Condon is no longer a retirement paradise to the ?Cozick's? Their house is up for sale. [Kozik] But when you get our age it's- it make it kind of difficult for the distance you have to go to the hospital. They have a clinic here which does real good. Matter of fact they diagnosed my sickness as well as the doctor in the Dalles. But it's a long way down. And to shop, to do different things, you have to drive 70 miles. [Jim] Ed Cathgard always wanted to own a gas station so when he and his wife Priscilla moved to Condon they bought one. [Cathgard] It's just a matter of not expecting too much. You really don't have to rough it that much, you have most of the modern conveniences. Some people think they're roughing

it here because they don't have supermarkets and shopping centers. [Woman's Voice] Okay, watch for cars. [Jim] The Cathgard's are just what this town needed. They were able to revive a business. Ed and Priscilla were raised in small towns so they fit in easily. [Cathgard] The retired people seem to blend in real nicely and have no problems that I know of. But it is very-- a bad deal for somebody looking for a job. If it hadn't been for the gas station we'd just never considered moving here. [Jim] Things die hard in small towns. Some old timers aren't so happy with the population boom. [Male interviewee 5] Most of the people that's come in here has been on welfare cases. [Male Interviewee 6] Well, I don't think it would be been better off. I don't think it's hurt a damn thing. And I don't think it's done us any good. [Male Interviewee 2] I've been blessed and cursed both. Positive people think it's great. Negative people don't want change. There was one person who wanted to put a station outside of town and check everyone out before they came in.

[Jim] Harris, two other Chamber of Commerce members, and newspaper editor Max Denchfield launched the ad scheme, not as a cure-all, but to get things moving. [Male Interviewee 4] When your population gets down to 700 or 750, you know, a family of four makes a big difference -- at the grocery store and the restaurants, barber shop, and one more circulation for the newspaper doesn't hurt either. [Female Interviewee 1] The people here had taken the bull by the horns and had decided that they were going to do something to help this community and to do nothing was not an option for them. [Jim] The response to the advertising surpassed their wildest dreams. It took volunteers and grant money just to handle the mail. [Male Interviewee 4] We started getting responses within a month and eventually received somewhere- by now somewhere between 3,500 and 4,000 responses. [Jim] In addition, thousands of tourists have come through town. Seventy people finally settled here, but a few moved on. [Female Interviewee 1] I know that people that moved here may have had other expectations.

We have- we don't lock our doors. We don't lock our cars. We don't have a crime rate. I'm appointing a juvenile commission, and we don't have juvenile delinquency. The cost of houses and land [Male Interviewee 3] is so small compared to what you're used to in the big city that it seems like a terrific bargain. [Male Interviewee 2] The average sale, I would say, is $25,000. You can rent a house here from $125 to $200 a month. [Lear] What we're really looking for is a family to move in and build a new home. We've turned the corner when we built a new home in this town. For the purpose of public input.... [Jim] Larry Lear is a second generation mayor. His father, Ernie, ran the town in the '60s. The younger Lear is considered progressive. [Lear] The rationale for the increase in rates came to our attention through the budgetary process. [Jim] This area is getting a new lease on life. A regional landfill is being developed 40 miles from here. That will bring a few jobs and hundreds of thousands of dollars

in user fees to develop the area. [Female Interviewee 1] We're going to put together a project to carry on the next 50 years with this county and help its growth. [Jim] Besides that, the town of Condon is stirring up another promotion. This time with a San Francisco radio station. Condon will be marketed as a vacation spot. [Kozik] I don't think there's anywhere in the country that a person could retire and live on an income that we have, with a home that we have. Nowhere in the country. [Jim] Some of the newcomers that we talked to are unhappy with the town's property taxes at a rate of $45/thousand. It's the highest in the state. Of course, the assessed valuations are lower, but town officials say that a major part of the 50 year development plan will be to cut down those tax bills. [Gwyneth] Finally tonight, if you are a regular reader of Willamette Week, Penthouse or The National Lampoon you've probably seen the work of Portland cartoonist John Callahan. And if you haven't seen his work as Marilyn Deutsch reports

prepare to be enlightened, shocked, offended, or maybe just a little disturbed. [Background noise of people talking] [Man Reader] Sorry, Sam. You can't hold your liquor. [Background sound of girls laughing] [Deutsch] Now you get the picture. Cartoonist John Callahan is not drawing Peanuts. [Woman Reader] You're a transvestite, aren't you? I like that in a man. [Deutsch] Outrageous, irreverent. [Woman Reader] Take my vibrator, please. [Deutsch] Off the wall. [Man Reader] Fa! [Gunshot sound] [Horse neighs] [Deutsch] Sick? [Man Reader] Don't worry, he won't get far on foot. Um, would you open the door for me.....? [Deutsch] Say what you want about John Callahan. [John] It doesn't bother me what people call me I'm-I'm happy to be called maimed. You know. [laughs] [Deutsch] In life and in art John Callahan's bite is just

as big as his bark. [John] Sometimes it's fun for me to draw a cartoon of say a taboo subject. It's very-a subject that's very delicate and yet I make a very funny cartoon out of it. So the person will- often people say well I laugh, I find myself laughing at the cartoon but then feeling guilty for laughing. And to me there's something special about attention like that you- a person can create. [Deutsch] Callahan's been a quadriplegic since he was just 21. The result of a one car accident. Both the driver and Callahan were falling down drunk at the time. In his cartoon characters and in himself John Callahan sees both the noble and the pathetic. [John] To me um, since I have the disability of being paralyzed and I see physical disability impairment as a humorous thing a lot of ways. When one grows past the morbid stage of being unaccepting of it and-and traumatized by the new- and

get into an acceptance stage and you can actually make light of it and be healthy about it. [Deutsch] Now 36, Callahan's quit drinking. It was just four years ago he began publishing his jarring cartoons. Callahan draws with his right hand steadying it with his left. His work appears in roughly 30 newspapers and magazines across the country. [John] I tend to take on the expressions. [Deutsch] An autobiography and collection of cartoons are due out next year. Here in the Northwest Callahan's routinely published in the Clinton Street Quarterly and in Willamette Week. Editor Mark Zusman. [Zusman] John has the ability to go after sacred cows; the ability to kind of rattle our sensibilities a little bit; the ability to force us to view things in a slightly different fashion. [Deutsch] For that ability,

Callahan's accused of being sexist. [Woman Reader] I'm finally beginning to get some attention for what I've got upstairs. [Deutsch] Racist. [Man Reader] Don't you love it when they're still warm from the dryer? [Dog whining in background] How much is that window in the doggie. [Deutsch] And cold hearted. In person Callahan is anything but. He is the quintessential Irishman, charming and gregarious with friends at the Metro Café. Trying out new gags. I had one in mind where the-the-the executive uh- another executive joke and he's in hell. I mean, I'm on a hell kick this week. And he's in hell with his desk [Unintelligible] And pushing and he's naked sweating. So he's pushing the button. [Unintelligible] Please give me a glass of ice water. But please cut that. It's not very funny. Don't run it. [Deutsch] By day, John Callahan swaggers around Portland in his motorized wheelchair. [John] This is my friend Mary. Elle est tres jolie. Elle est bonne ami ?des moi?

[Deutsch] An afternoon with Callahan is usually spent on a tour of his favorite haunts. [John] Should we go to the condom section? Where's the ribbed kind? Now I, myself, enjoy the ribbed kind. [background voices] Oh well, should we go to the next section that I'd like to go to. [Woman voice] Ladies underwear? That's where you're taking us? [John] Yeah, uh... What do you guys think? [background voices] [Deutsch] Back at home at night, after an attendant's bedded him down, Callahan stays up 'till two or three in the morning, penning his next outrageous act -- [Phone rings] [Deutsch] with just the sound of his answering machine for company. [Answering machine message] This is John. I'm a little depressed today. Please leave your message after the gunshots. [gunshot sound] [Jim] Well, there's certainly no question that his work challenges the reader to confront some uncomfortable situations.

[Gwyneth] And certainly that he is successful. John will have two books out next year -- his autobiography entitled "Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far on Foot," and a collection of his work will be called "Do Not Disturb Any Further." [Jim] Well, coming up next week on Front Street Weekly- [Paulus] It's like the army going out and deciding it's going to declare war on somebody without Congress. That-That's I'd put it in the same thing. I think that they're- they've declared war on fish. [Gwyneth] Norma Paulus, Oregon's member of the Northwest Power Planning Council, is angry. The Army Corps of Engineers is withholding millions of dollars that Congress voted to build an improved fish bypass facilities on Columbia River dams. Next week, the $4.7 million that got away. [Soft guitar music] [Jim] Before music entered the New Age, before Windham Hill and so-called life style music there was John Fahey. [Upbeat Guitar Music]

[Fahey] Mainly a composer. An innovator. I'm not a great guitar player. [Jim] Salem resident Fahey is, in truth recognized internationally as one of the most influential and copied guitar players of the 20th century. Next week we'll talk with and listen to John Fahey. [Guitar continues... fades into violin music] [Gwyneth] And on a completely different note, we'll introduce you to another Oregon musician who plays for a different audience. He's 91 years old and known affectionately as the legend of Beaver Creek. [Jim] And that's all next week on Front Street Weekly. [Gwyneth] Until then, good night. [Jim] Good night. [Upbeat funky music] [Upbeat funky music]