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THE ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, JUNE 17, 2021
Tow truck drivers urge motorists to slow down
By KRISTIAN
FODEN-VENCIL
Oregon Public Broadcasting
Back in January, 42-year-
old David Rios was relaxing
at his mom’s house when he
got a call from his dispatcher
at Chappelle’s Towing in
Vancouver, Washington.
There was a family with
a fl at tire on the shoulder of
Interstate 5. Rios remembers:
“Four kids, one adult ... on the
freeway in a 2016 Cadillac
Escalade. She did not know
how to change a tire.”
He was about to put her
SUV on his fl atbed to take it
off the freeway and change
the tire somewhere safe when
a passing vehicle plowed into
him.
“I’m pinned between two
cars. I don’t know what’s
happening,” Rios said. “But
I’m feeling the hottest burn-
ing sensation. In my mind,
it’s not real, it felt like a
movie. And I’m being pushed
across the ground.”
These days, his buddies
are reluctant to ask what hap-
pened. They don’t want to
pry. He says he can’t get the
memories out of his head.
They come in fl ashes: It’s
loud. He’s angry about being
hit, confused because he can’t
seem to stand up and exasper-
ated that cars continue rush-
ing by.
Someone takes a belt and
ties it around what’s left of
his leg.
Today, he doesn’t handle
loud noises well.
“It’s the boom,” he said,
“the impact.”
But Rios wants to tell his
story, because he wants driv-
ers to slow down and pay
attention when they pass a
tow truck.
Five months later, state
police are still investigating
the crash, and Rios is adjust-
ing to life with a prosthetic
leg, relearning how to do
basic things like driving and
playing with his son. “Men-
tally, physically, emotion-
ally, ... I’m dealing with it,”
he said.
Photos by Kristian Foden-Vencil/Oregon Public Broadcasting
Former tow truck driver David Rios lost his leg in January after a car hit him while he was working on Interstate 5.
The federal Centers for
Disease Control and Pre-
vention estimates that the
risk of dying as a tow truck
driver is 15 times higher than
in other dangerous private
industry jobs, such as weld-
ing and construction. And
most states, including Ore-
gon and Washington, require
drivers to move over and
slow down when they see a
tow truck. But many people
don’t, despite the threat of a
$140 ticket.
“You get some people that
are just in a hurry, texting and
driving, not paying atten-
tion. Putting make-up on,”
said driver Dan Carroll, who
also works for Chappelle’s
Towing.
Tow truck drivers say they
deal with death and injury on
a regular basis, whether it’s
the motorists they’re dealing
with, a pedestrian or someone
in the tight-knit driver com-
munity. It’s an ever-present
fact made more tangible by
Rios is learning how to walk on a new prosthetic leg.
the location of their offi ces,
usually on the side of a high-
way with traffi c speeding by
at 60, 70, 80 miles an hour.
On a recent ride-along,
Oregon Public Broadcasting
parked on the side of Wash-
ington State Route 14 with
Carroll to see how motorists
react. A quick and unscien-
tifi c count showed that less
than half the drivers moved
over during 20 minutes at
the side of the road. Carroll
thinks that’s because drivers
just don’t regard him as an
emergency worker.
“I’ve gotten into argu-
ments with friends. They
don’t think so, they say no
because we’re not police,
paramedics or fi re trucks, I’m
assuming maybe because we
don’t have blue lights,” he
said.
“But there are times when
we get called fi rst, before
police or anyone else, and
we get to the scene fi rst. So
I would consider us fi rst
responders.”
Legally, tow truck driv-
ers are not considered fi rst
responders. But they are
“emergency” responders —
meaning they’re allowed to
drive along the hard shoul-
der to get to an accident, and
drivers must slow down and
move over as they pass.
Carroll likes helping peo-
ple. He earned $70,000 last
year. But the job is hard and
dangerous, and it comes with
a 12-hour day, fi ve days a
week, plus the expectation
that he’ll jump out of bed
anytime someone needs tow-
ing off the freeway nearby.
Carroll takes precautions,
like wearing a safety vest and
lighting fl ares when he pulls
over. He’s cautious about
using the fl ashing lights on
his truck.
“People driving by go,
‘Oh, pretty lights!’ And they
swerve into it,” he said.
Vancouver’s tow truck
drivers have been particu-
larly hit hard over the last six
months. In addition to Rios
losing a leg, driver Arthur
Anderson and two others
were killed in April near Cas-
tle Rock. In December, Chris
Amedio, of Garza’s Auto
Repair, caught a passing car
striking the side of his truck
on an in-cab video.
“I just got hit!” he screams
on the tape.
He’s OK now, but thinks
he could have died if he
hadn’t jumped at the last
moment.
“Towing fatalities are at
the top of the list followed
by fi refi ghters, police offi cers
and EMTs,” said Kelly Just,
with AAA Washington.
She’s working with the
Washington State Patrol and
the Washington Department
of Transportation on a new
educational campaign called
“Slow Down, Move Over.”
She thinks the COVID-19
pandemic has made driv-
ing more dangerous with
more speeding and distracted
drivers.
“It’s the emptier roads,”
she said. “Nobody was driv-
ing, so people thought, let’s
see how fast we can go.”
Back in the tow truck,
Carroll works quickly to
pick-up an illegally parked
car at an apartment complex.
His head stays on a swivel as
he keeps an eye out for the
owner. He thinks this part of
the job, enforcing parking
rules and laws, is one reason
people don’t slow down for
tow trucks.
“We have a love hate rela-
tionship with the customers,”
he said. “They hate us until
they need us.”
Carroll’s buddy, Rios, is
learning to walk again on
his prosthetic leg. He doesn’t
think he’ll ever be able to
work as a tow-truck driver
again. But he hopes maybe
he’ll be able to fi nd work
warning new recruits about
safety.
Northwest hops continue to add acres
By GEORGE PLAVEN
Capital Press
YAKIMA, Wash. —
To say 2020 was a precari-
ous year for Northwest hop
growers would be a massive
understatement.
Pandemic closures ham-
mered bars and restaurants,
causing an overall decline in
the U.S. beer market. Then
came severe weather during
the hop harvest, with high
winds desiccating ripe cones
and blowing down trellises.
Thick smoke from large
wildfi res also fi lled the skies,
sending plants into early dor-
mancy and reducing late-sea-
son yields.
Despite the challenges,
total hop acreage is up 4%
in 2021 across Washington
state, Idaho and Oregon, and
industry representatives are
cautiously optimistic about a
speedy recovery.
“We’re starting to see
things picking back up,” said
Jaki Brophy, communications
director for Hop Growers of
America, a trade association
based in Yakima. “We’re cer-
tainly not back to where we
were before quite yet, but it
does look like things are start-
ing to recover well.”
According to a U.S.
Department of Agriculture
report issued June 10, Wash-
ington has 60,735 acres of
hops strung for harvest, an
increase of 2,094 acres over
last year. Idaho has 9,784
acres of hops this year, up
516, and Oregon has 7,571
acres, up 467.
The total of 60,735 acres
is a record high, though Bro-
phy said some of those addi-
tions are the result of pre-pan-
demic planning, and not new
business.
“A lot of this is based on
past demand,” she said. “The
sentiment and estimate at this
point is the increases aren’t
necessarily from recent con-
tracts, but fulfi lling ones that
were previously established.”
Michelle Palacios, admin-
istrator of the Oregon Hops
Commission, said acreage
There’s no stopping an Oregon tradition like the
Astoria Scandinavian Midsummer Festival. We celebrate the
long days that summer solstice brings us every June. And
while we are not meeting at the Fairgrounds this year, we will
be enjoying our 54th Midsummer Celebration. Join us!
Tuesday, June 15th
Coleman Agriculture/Capital Press
Rows of hops grow in Oregon’s Willamette Valley.
is up in 2021 based on baby
hops that were strung last
year but did not produce a
crop.
Unlike Washington and
Idaho, it takes Oregon grow-
ers two years to harvest new
hop plants based on the cli-
mate. Those acres are not
included in the USDA’s
annual report.
Palacios said more grow-
ers in Oregon are transition-
ing their acreage from alpha
hop varieties such as Nugget
to more aroma varieties like
Citra and Centennial, driven
by increased demand among
craft brewers.
“Our (increased) acres
was absolutely anticipated
because of this variety tran-
sition that we’re going
through,” Palacios said.
“These acres were in the
ground in 2020, but we just
didn’t get to harvest them.”
Craft brewing has been
the primary catalyst for the
growth in hop acres, Brophy
said. Brewers use more hops
per glass in beers such as pale
ales that are rising in popular-
ity worldwide.
But 2020 was undeniably
diffi cult for the industry as
on-site beer consumption fell
due to COVID-19. That dis-
proportionately aff ected craft
brewing. While the overall
beer market was down 3%
last year, craft beer volume
was down 9%.
Bart Watson, chief econo-
mist for the Brewers Associ-
ation, which represents craft
breweries, said their mem-
bers rely more heavily on
draft and on-site consump-
tion than larger beer compa-
nies such as Anheuser-Busch
or Molson Coors.
As more people drank beer
at home during the pandemic,
Watson said craft brewers
faced a tougher adjustment.
“Generally, that tradeoff is
bad for craft breweries,” he
said.
The beer industry’s strug-
gles rippled back up the sup-
ply chain to hop farms. About
98% of the U.S. crop comes
from the Pacifi c Northwest.
While hop acreage was up in
2020 over 2019, production
fell to 104.8 million pounds,
according to Hop Growers of
America.
Brophy said the reason
was twofold. First, growers
did idle some acres to account
for the pandemic’s disrup-
tion of bars and restaurants.
Mother Nature was the other
culprit, with wind and smoke
reducing Washington’s yield
by 12.56%, and Idaho’s by
8.8%.
“People are estimating in
the hops industry that it was
probably down about 10%,
give or take,” Brophy said.
For all the chaos of 2020,
this year has brought some
early encouragement. The
economy is gradually reopen-
ing as more people are vac-
cinated against COVID-19,
which Watson said will only
help craft brewing to regain
its footing.
• Reader’s Theater—From the attic of Suomi Hall: Love &
Politics produced by the Astor Street Opry, funded by the
Clatsop Cultural Coalition http://youtu.be/a-eG7mgyYdl.
Begins at 5:00 PM June 15 and runs through June 30.
Friday, June 18th
• 7:00 PM The 2021 Court presentations “What My National
Heritage Means to Me” and Crowning of Miss Scandinavia
2021. The coronation will be livestreamed on our Facebook
page.
Saturday, June 19th
• 11:00 AM—OPTOG Parade, The 2021 Court, dancers and
members of the Nordic community will welcome friends and
visitors travelling to and through Astoria clad in their colorful
native folk dress along Marine Drive near the Columbia River
Maritime Museum between 16th and 20th Streets. Honoring
this year’s Grand Marshal, Loran Mathews!
• 12:00 Noon—Join us for the Flag Raising at the future
NORDIC HERITAGE PARK location on Marine Drive between
14th and 16th Streets downtown.
• 12:30 PM-3:00 PM—A Nordic Scavenger Hunt starts at the
NORDIC HERITAGE PARK where participants will pick up their
materials. Come one, come all, join in on the fun!
Sunday, June 20th
• 11:00 AM—Scandinavian Church Service
at the Bethany Free Lutheran Church with
hymns and readings in Nordic languages.
Join in person or watch the service by
livestream at www.bethanyfree.com.
Visit www.AstoriaScanFest.org for a full list
of all the activities happening this weekend!
(MARK YOUR CALENDARS JUNE 17, 18
and 19, 2022 FOR THE 55th ANNUAL
SCANDINAVIAN MIDSUMMER FESTIVAL AT
THE CLATSOP COUNTY FAIRGROUNDS!)