Page 14A
Saturday, May 28, 2016
OFF PAGE ONE
DISTRACTED: 58 fatalities from 2010-14 in Oregon
East Oregonian
Continued from 1A
Contributed photo
Thomas’ father and a friend returned to spot of the
attack and found the remains of the bear had been
picked apart by scavengers.
BEAR: Thomas does
not plan to quit hunting
Continued from 1A
“I just love the mountains,
and the thrill of being out
there,” he said. “I love to get
up close and personal with
the animals.”
But even he admits this
encounter was a little too
close. Thomas’ girlfriend,
Lacey Caldera, ights back
tears as he tells the harrowing
story of his trip into the
Grande Ronde Valley. Spring
season for hunting bears is
April 15 through May 31 in
the Starkey Unit outside La
Grande, and Thomas had
gone out by himself to ill his
tag.
Thomas parked near Tony
Vey Meadows and ventured
into the woods from there.
That’s as speciic as he’ll
get about his exact location.
The entire area is thick with
timber, so Thomas used a
predator call to lure bears
into the open where he could
take a shot.
Morning turned to after-
noon before an adult male,
maybe ive and a half feet
long, sauntered out within
range. Thomas pulled the
trigger and hit the bear in its
shoulder, which startled it
and sent it bolting downhill.
Thomas followed, grabbing
his pack and rile, to look for
the body.
After zig-zagging around
trees for about a hundred
yards, Thomas said he looked
up and was bum-rushed. The
bear grabbed him by his right
arm and pulled him down
before he could even take the
safety off his gun.
“I’m just kicking and
punching as hard as I can,”
he said. “It grabbed me by
my left leg, and picked me
up and started shaking.”
Thomas tried forcing
the bear’s head down long
enough to grab his semi-au-
tomatic pistol. The bear bit
him numerous times on both
legs, shredding the front of
his pants. Fortunately, he
said the shin-high boots he
was wearing kept him from
possibly breaking his ankles.
Finally, Thomas said he
was able to kick the bear
hard enough to knock him
back and grab the pistol.
Just as the bear went for his
leg again, he ired two shots:
the irst did nothing, but the
second pierced the animal’s
gut and forced it to retreat.
Battered and bloodied,
Thomas got to his feet and
scrambled back to the top
of the ridge where he could
use his cellphone, which
still worked despite being
damaged.
“I knew I had to get out
of there while I still could,”
he said. “Once the adrenaline
wears off, sometimes you
just fall in a pile.”
With blood now pouring
out of his legs, Thomas
managed to call his step-
mother and friend back in
Pendleton to tell them what
happened. They both called
9-1-1 as Thomas hiked a mile
back to his utility vehicle and
drove another seven miles
back to his truck.
Thomas actually passed
the Union County sheriff’s
deputy and an ambulance
on the highway, which were
on their way to look for
him. They checked his vitals
on the road, and allowed
him to follow them back to
Grande Ronde Hospital in La
Grande.
Meanwhile,
Caldera
said she had no idea if her
boyfriend was safe or even
alive until two hours later.
“I don’t know if my
heart’s ever going to go back
to normal,” she said. “I’m
just glad to be able to hold
his hand.”
“It’s times like this I’m
glad he’s stubborn,” she
added with a chuckle.
Bear
attacks
are
extremely rare in Oregon.
Wildlife oficials say it’s only
happened four other times,
“I don’t blame
the bear at all.
The bear was
fighting for
its life, just
like I was.”
— Shane Thomas,
Pendleton hunter
and none have been fatal.
Two such cases came under
similar circumstances, where
a wounded bear retaliated
against a hunter.
“I don’t blame the bear at
all,” Thomas said. “The bear
was ighting for its life, just
like I was.”
Doctors at the hospital
pumped Thomas full of
antibiotics and cleaned his
wounds to avoid an infection.
Thomas said he’s still sore a
week later, and walks with a
bit of a limp. He later learned
the bear bit down just an inch
away from the main arteries
on both his thighs, which
could have killed him.
Despite this, Thomas said
he has no intention of quitting
hunting — though he said
Caldera made him promise to
hunt with a partner next bear
season. He said he plans to be
back at work next week.
“I feel pretty dang good,
considering the fact,” he said.
“I’ll be a lot more cautious
when I go to retrieve my next
bear.”
As for the bear, Thomas
said his father and a friend
returned to the site and
found the animal, which had
managed to crawl about 400
yards before it died. They
packed up the skull and
paws for Thomas to keep as
a reminder of the experience.
“I was lucky, obviously,”
he said. “But I’ll be back up
there again next year, doing
the exact same thing.”
———
Contact George Plaven
at gplaven@eastoregonian.
com or 541-966-0825.
Oregon State Police
investigated and deter-
mined Alexxyss was using
her smartphone throughout
her trip. Shannon, 42, now
is raising awareness of
the dangers of distracted
driving.
“This is my new
project,” she said. “I don’t
want any other family to
have to go through this.”
———
Shannon was at her
apartment in Richland,
Washington,
plowing
through loads of laundry.
She had not had a night
off in two weeks, she said,
when she got a text message
from her boss.
Both
mother
and
daughter worked at the
Tri-Cities
Residential
Services in Kennewick,
Shannon as a counselor and
Alexxyss as a caregiver,
helping people with disabil-
ities improve their social
skills.
Shannon said only a
few people at work knew
Alexxyss was her daughter,
and the supervisor was
texting to ask if they were
related.
Shannon
said
she
suspected Alexxyss missed
work, maybe even quit.
After all, she was still a
teen.
While talking to her
boss, she received a voice
mail from a police oficer.
When she called back, the
oficer asked to verify her
address.
Less than 15 minutes
later, a police car arrived.
Then a second. And then a
third car, and out stepped
the county coroner.
“I knew at that point
there was not good news
coming,” she said.
She igured her father,
Rick Moulton of Herm-
iston, had died. He is the
brother-in-law of Herm-
iston Police Chief Jason
Edmiston. That makes
Shannon his niece through
marriage.
She said a Richland
police oficer asked to talk
with her inside her apart-
ment. She pushed back
and wanted to know why
they were at her home.
“They
told
me
Alexxyss was in a car
accident and was killed
at the scene,” she said.
———
Oregon State Police
used Alexxyss’s phone
records to determine a
time line leading up to
the fatal crash. Lt. Mike
Turner, commander of
the Pendleton ofice, said
based on the records and
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driving time, Alexxyss
never stopped the car
when she handled the
phone.
“Everywhere she had
coverage, she was texting,
sending and receiving
texts, taking calls, sharing
and reviewing Facebook
pages,” Turner said.
Six minutes before the
crash, she shared a post on
Facebook, he said, and one
witness reported Alexxyss
was on the phone as she left
her lane.
“We don’t know she was
on her phone at the moment
of the crash,” Turner
emphasized, “but she was
certainly distracted from
the roadway and not paying
attention, and that led to her
crash and death.”
The Oregon Department
of Transportation deines
distractions as “anything
that diverts your attention
away from focusing on
your primary task — oper-
ating your vehicle — and
responding to what is
going on around you.” The
agency considers distracted
driving an epidemic in
Oregon.
From
2010-14
in
Oregon, according to the
department,
distracted
driving resulted in 16,987
crashes with 14,186 injuries
and 58 fatalities.
Drivers reported to be
using a cellphone at the
time of the crash caused
1,419 of those wrecks
with 1,175 injuries and 15
fatalities. Drivers 16 to 18
account for 131 crashes in
that subset, which resulted
in 120 injuries but no
deaths.
Convictions in Oregon
for distracted driving during
the same period totaled
88,626. The transportation
department contends there
should be more, but the
distracted driving law,
Oregon Revised Statue
811.507, does not take into
account how people are
using modern technology
while driving.
The law prohibits drivers
from communicating on
a hand-held device while
driving, but the law says
nothing about using a
smartphone to listen to
music, for example, or
as a navigation system
or to check social media.
The Court of Appeals of
Oregon on Aug. 19, 2015,
ruled a state trooper did
not have probable cause
to pull over a driver after
seeing her look down at a
mobile device in her hand
because he never saw her
“put the device up to her
ear, move her lips as if she
were talking, or push any
buttons.” The appeals court
found the state law applies
only to “use of a mobile
communication device for
the purpose of voice or text
communication.”
Merely looking down at
a mobile device, according
to the appeals court,
does not violate the law.
Offenders in court then,
according to ODOT, can
claim they used the phone
as a music device and avoid
legal consequences.
The new speed limit
on Interstate 84 in Eastern
Oregon and on some other
state roads is 70 mph.
Cars at that speed cover
almost 103 feet in one
second. The Virginia Tech
Transportation Institute in
2009 found drivers who
text take their eyes off the
road 4.6-seconds over a
six-second interval.
———
Shannon said while
Alexxyss was not living
with her at the time, she has
not changed her daughter’s
room. She said she some-
times expects a call from
her or to see her at home.
She also has helped her
other daughter understand
the loss. Ashlynn Ther-
whanger, 21, is autistic
and lives in Hayden Lake,
Idaho. Shannon said she
wanted a way for Ashlynn
to remember her sister,
“I told her she has a
guardian angle who now
lives in her heart,” Shannon
said, “and we protect out
heart.”
They talk about once a
week, and Ashlynn brings
up Alexxyss each time.
And each time, Shannon
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said, she tells Ashlynn her
sister is in her heart. Then
she asks, “What do we do.”
Ashlynn answers, “We
protect out heart.”
Shannon also hears from
Alexxyss’s friends who ask
if they can stop and visit.
“It’s fun hearing the
stories from her friends,”
she said, “but it’s hard,
too.”
Shannon
divorced
from the girls’ father,
Tobby Therwhanger, of
Lubbock, Texas, less than
a year after giving birth to
Alexxyss. But in March
2015 he reached out to
Alexxyss, and she grew
curious. Shannon said that
her daughter then lew to
Texas a year ago to meet
her father. After that, they
stayed in touch about every
over week.
Shannon said it was good
they were rebuilding their
relationship. She said she
cherishes every memory
she has of Alexxyss.
———
Shannon was in Pend-
leton about two weeks ago
to help the Oregon Depart-
ment of Transportation
and Oregon State Police
make public service ads on
the dangers of distracted
driving. Alexxyss’s story
is central to the campaign.
Turner said those ads could
start airing in the next week
or so.
Shannon said since her
daughter died, she has
stopped messing with her
phone when she drives,
and she sees it everywhere
she goes. She said she gets
on relatives, friends and
co-workers who do it.
“Just pull over if it’s that
important,” she said. A few
seconds of distraction can
change your whole world,
she said, and her daughters
were her world.
“ ... My world kind of
crashed,” Shannon said. “I
have only half a world.”
Saturday would have
been Alexxyss’s 20th
birthday.
———
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com or 541-966-0833.
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