There were dignitaries by the bucket full: plenty politicos, eager
photographers, sturdy service organization reps, even a quorum for the Town
Hall meeting.

But the show belonged to MEL – all 113 miles of him.

Or maybe he should be called Son of MEL, or MEL II, or MEL the Much
Improved.

“The seats are better and bigger,” said Joyce Le Doux, of Alder Creek, the
operations supervisor of MEL and the driver that wheeled the new beast into
the parking area of Welches Elementary for the Aug. 15 Town Hall Meeting of
the Villages at Mt. Hood.

“It’s easier to clean, has two wheelchair positions (instead of one), arm rests
and a power door opener instead of the old manual door opener,” Le Doux
said. “It even has a cool CD player.”

And instead of the 245,461 belching miles that the first bus had amassed –
this MEL stood tall sporting a meager 113 miles on its shiny, new odometer.
MEL is the second in a line of Mountain Express buses that serve the Mountain
community – its route stretching all the way to Estacada.

Villages chair Bob Reeves has been the ramrod in acquiring the latest version
of MEL.

“The first engine went through two cracked heads, three rebuilt engines and
six lift pumps,” Reeves said. “The City of Sandy and our contractor (Wheels)
supplied us a backup bus at no charge when ours was down. With Clackamas
County now our fiscal agent it’s much easier to obtain grants and the state
likes working with a public agency.

“We are still raising funds for the match required of the grant for our second
bus.”

State Senator Rick Metsger (D-Welches) was handed the snipping chores for
the official MEL ribbon cutting. Despite a less-than-perfect pair of scissors –
this wasn’t Metsger’s first ribbon rodeo – he performed the solemn, and often
times silly, duty with aplomb.

“Kudos to the community,” Metsger said, after a singular stroke. “Ridership
shows this was the right thing to do. We managed a huge transportation bill
through the legislature this session which contributed to funding this bus.”
County Commissioner Bob Austin acted as master of ceremonies and passed
along a tank full of praise.

“Here’s tangible evidence of a lot of hard work and dedication,” Austin said.
“This bus will add to the service of this area. It was manufactured locally
(Woodburn). It’s great to have a reliable bus for the community with 1,500
trips per month, taking 700 cars off the road.”

County Commissioner Jim Bernard pumped more praise.

“There’s a lot of criticism of how government is awful,” Bernard said. “But this
is an example of what it can do – and in a hurry.”

Through it all MEL was stalwart, sucking up the praise like clear mountain air
through an intake valve.

In other business the board:
-- announced the schedule and deadlines for the vacant board position to be
Sept. 1 for applying, Sept. 8 for county review, and Sept. 10 for the
appointment;
-- and, showcased local community service organizations including Hoodland
Fire District (Mic Eby), Mt. Hood Chamber of Commerce (Loren Holm), Clothes
for Homeless Vets (Eileen Vigil), Oregon Trail School District (Shelley Redinger
and Julia Monteith), Hoodland Public Library (Beth Scarth), Friends of the
Library (Judith Norval), Hoodland Senior Center (Jeri McMahan), Mt. Hood
Corridor CPO (Don Fulton),
Mt. Hood Lions Club (Mary Emmel, Lloyd and Shirley Savage), Wy’east
Information Center (Sandra Palmer), Neighborhood Missions (Pastor Berry
and Tommie Kirkendahl), Hoodland Women’s Club (Kay Baker and Signe
Merz) and Welches Post Office (Brenda Manley).