NORTHWEST
East Oregonian
A2
Thursday, May 13, 2021
Oregon man survives rolling pickup
Although he didn’t get a
chance to hook some trout,
Strus said he had a new
remote control predator call
and he figured he’d try to
summon a coyote.
He took Forest Road 7025,
a route along Goose Creek,
several miles north of Keat-
ing Valley, that he’d never
driven. Strus acknowledges,
with the rueful chuckle of a
person who wonders later
what he was thinking at the
crucial moment, that his judg-
ment wasn’t sound.
When the road deterio-
rated into something closer to
a trail, and with dark coming
on, Strus said he thought
about turning back.
“I should have turned
around,” he said. “But the kid
in me said go a little farther.”
He did — just far enough
to reach the spot in the road.
Strus said he felt one rear
wheel sink, and when he
pushed the accelerator the
front end of the truck “reared
up just like a horse.”
Then the truck rolled in
what seemed, he said, “like
slow motion.”
Strus said it looked as
though a burrowing animal
had dug into the bank, weak-
ening the road. Whatever the
cause, he was stuck, at night-
fall, in the chilly mountains.
Strus said he wasn’t espe-
cially worried, though.
By JAYSON JACOBY
Baker City Herald
BAKER CITY — Joe
Strus had never been so
happy to have a package of
hot dogs.
The buns were just a
bonus.
The meals he made of
those provisions were among
the few pleasant parts of an
otherwise painful experience
that Strus, 63, of Richland,
Washington, last week in the
mountains north of Keating
Valley.
After the rocky edge of a
remote forest road gave way
beneath the weight of his
2006 Dodge three-quarter ton
flatbed pickup around dusk
on Sunday, May 2, the truck
rolled once, landing on its
wheels near a small stream.
“My beautiful truck is not
so beautiful anymore,” he
said. “I hit pretty hard.”
It all started because Strus,
who moved to Baker County
around 2005, wanted to go
fishing at Balm Creek Reser-
voir. He had tried to reach the
reservoir some days before
from the west, via Medical
Springs, but was turned back
by snowdrifts.
On May 2, Strus decided
to try a different route, via
Forshey Meadow to the east.
He got close, but again was
foiled by snow.
Travis Ash/Contributed Photo
Joe Strus’ pickup truck landed upright after rolling off a re-
mote road north of Keating Valley on May 2, 2021.
Although his prized truck
suffered dents and a couple
of broken windows, it was
upright and the engine ran
fine.
He had most of a tank of
a gas.
A nd, perhaps most
important, he had an eight-
pack of hot dogs, a bottle of
orange juice and two beers.
But before he took stock of his
situation, he sat inside the cab
and gave himself a talking to.
“I just was beating myself
up for making a bad deci-
sion,” he said.
Besides the food, a warm
coat and some camping gear,
Strus had his cellphone.
Forecast for Pendleton Area
| Go to AccuWeather.com
TODAY
FRIDAY
SATURDAY
SUNDAY
MONDAY
Partly sunny
Times of clouds
and sun
Plenty of sun
Very warm with
plenty of sun
Mostly sunny and
very warm
He didn’t have service
in the creek bottom, so he
climbed the nearest hill.
He was able to send a text
to his girlfriend, but he never
received a reply and couldn’t
be sure the message had
gone through. When he tried
to make a phone call he got
a message that he could only
make a 911 call. Strus said he
decided not to do that.
He wasn’t in any immedi-
ate danger, and he figured that
if his girlfriend didn’t get his
message, and nobody came
looking for him, he could
always walk out.
“I didn’t want to put
anybody else in harm’s way
82° 49°
85° 52°
Remote testimony could be here
to stay at the Oregon Capitol
By CHRIS LEHMAN
The Oregonian
82° 49°
87° 56°
HERMISTON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
84° 54°
87° 48°
90° 52°
86° 53°
93° 61°
OREGON FORECAST
ALMANAC
Shown is today’s weather. Temperatures are today’s highs and tonight’s lows.
PENDLETON
through 3 p.m. yest.
HIGH
LOW
TEMP.
Seattle
Olympia
64/47
72/47
80/52
Longview
Kennewick Walla Walla
76/55
Lewiston
74/51
84/54
Astoria
62/49
Pullman
Yakima 83/53
72/45
80/53
Portland
Hermiston
77/54
The Dalles 84/54
Salem
Corvallis
73/48
Yesterday
Normals
Records
La Grande
75/50
PRECIPITATION
John Day
Eugene
Bend
79/50
78/51
77/49
Ontario
85/54
Caldwell
Burns
83°
47°
72°
46°
99° (1993) 31° (2012)
24 hours ending 3 p.m.
Month to date
Normal month to date
Year to date
Last year to date
Normal year to date
Albany
76/49
0.00"
0.18"
0.46"
1.46"
0.90"
4.45"
WINDS (in mph)
83/49
79/46
0.00"
0.26"
0.45"
3.82"
5.96"
5.56"
through 3 p.m. yest.
HIGH
LOW
TEMP.
Pendleton 71/45
79/52
24 hours ending 3 p.m.
Month to date
Normal month to date
Year to date
Last year to date
Normal year to date
HERMISTON
Enterprise
79/54
84/57
79°
45°
70°
46°
102° (1931) 29° (1916)
PRECIPITATION
Moses
Lake
71/46
Aberdeen
74/50
78/55
Tacoma
Yesterday
Normals
Records
Spokane
Wenatchee
71/50
Today
Medford
87/54
Fri.
NE 3-6
N 6-12
Boardman
Pendleton
NNW 4-8
NW 6-12
SUN AND MOON
Klamath Falls
80/43
Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2021
Sunrise today
Sunset tonight
Moonrise today
Moonset today
5:26 a.m.
8:17 p.m.
6:33 a.m.
10:31 p.m.
First
Full
Last
New
May 19
May 26
June 2
June 10
NATIONAL EXTREMES
Yesterday’s National Extremes: (for the 48 contiguous states)
High 101° in Needles, Calif. Low 15° in Gould, Colo.
He found a stout limb to
use as a walking stick and,
once the temperature had
warmed, he started walking,
retracing his driving route.
Strus hadn’t gone far when
he came across a large pile of
fresh bear scat on the road,
almost within sight of his
truck.
“He must have smelled
those hot dogs,” Strus said.
He had covered about
2 miles when he heard the
burble of a motor.
It was an ATV, ridden by
Brian Ratliff, a biologist for
the Oregon Department of
Fish and Wildlife who was
investigating the death of a
calf in the area.
Strus said he greeted
Ratliff with a question —
“You guys aren’t looking for
me, are you?”
Ratliff was not — Strus,
unable to get a text message
out, hadn’t been reported
missing. Ratliff told Strus
to wait, then rode to a place
where he could text Baker
County Sheriff Travis Ash.
Strus said the sheriff,
whom he knows, arrived less
than an hour later and drove
him to Richland.
Strus said he learned
that the U.S. Forest Service
has installed signs warn-
ing people not to try to drive
down the road where his
truck rolled.
OREGON LEGISLATURE
PENDLETON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
79° 54°
to come out and look for me,”
he said.
And although he didn’t
think many people traveled
the road where he got stuck,
Strus was nervous about leav-
ing his pickup truck.
He had a couple of rifles
and a shotgun, and with the
windows broken there was no
way to secure the guns.
During Monday, May 3,
he stayed close to the truck.
He gathered stones to
build a fire ring and kindled
a blaze to cook the hot dogs.
After he finished the
orange juice he used the
container to get water from
the creek. Strus said he
wished he had a water puri-
fier, but he said the stream
was cold and clear.
Strus said he was glad his
pickup ran despite rolling
over. He started the engine
occasionally to let the heater
ward off the nighttime chill.
An automated weather
station several miles to the
east recorded temperatures
as low as 30 degrees early on
May 3.
“It really got cold,” he said.
The following day he
considered his situation. He
had eaten the last of the hot
dogs.
Strus said he concluded
that either nobody was
searching for him, or they
didn’t know where to look.
SALEM — At the south
entrance to the Oregon
Capitol sits a kiosk. With
the building closed to the
public, the kiosk has one job:
to allow people who walk up
to the Oregon Legislature
to testify virtually before a
committee.
The public hasn’t exactly
jumped at the chance to talk
to lawmakers by standing
outside of the Capitol and
speaking into a camera.
According to the Legislative
Policy and Research Office,
the kiosk has been used
just four times since it was
installed last year.
But what Oregonians
have taken to is the chance
to testify from their living
rooms. So far this session,
with committee hearings
held entirely on virtual
platforms, people have
signed up to address legis-
lative committees more than
14,000 times. That’s already
well over the number who
sought to testify in person
in 2019, with more than six
NATIONAL WEATHER TODAY
weeks remaining in this
year’s session.
“Most of the changes to
our lives that we’ve seen
during COVID are ones
that we would prefer to
leave behind, but this is not
one of them,” said Mary
Kyle McCurdy, the deputy
director of 1000 Friends of
Oregon. “It really has opened
up meetings and hearings
and public decision-making
to so many Oregonians.”
More than 1,200 commit-
tee hearings have been
conducted using video-con-
ference technology since
the beginning of this year’s
session. According to the
Legislat ure’s Infor ma-
tion Services Department,
roughly 98% have been free
of technical problems that
have resulted in an interrup-
tion of the meeting.
Lawmakers are consider-
ing a bill that would require
both the Legislature and local
governments to offer remote
testimony as an option, even
when the pandemic is in
the rearview mirror. House
Bill 2560 has already been
approved in the House and
awaits a vote on the Senate
floor. The measure would
allow testifying via telephone
to count as remote testimony.
No one is publicly
suggesting that once COVID-
19 protocols are relaxed,
lawmakers continue to use
remote hearings exclusively.
There are more than a dozen
hearing rooms sitting unused
at the Capitol, and lawmakers
are just as eager as everyone
else to see people in person
again. Floor sessions are
held in person, but without
any members of the public in
attendance.
But the horse is out of the
barn when it comes to allow-
ing people to have their say
from the comfort of their
homes.
“There have been fewer
trips over the Cascades in
dangerous weather condi-
tions,” said Misty Mason
Freeman, the director of
the Legislative Policy and
Research Office. “It’s given
folks the opportunity to
testify from a space that’s
comfortable to them, includ-
ing being able to testify with
kiddos at home.”
IN BRIEF
Pasco crash leaves 1 dead, 1
injured in car that collided
with semi driven by M-F man
PASCO, Wash. — A police chase in
Pasco, Washington, ended in a death on
Sunday, May 9, on Highway 395 and Foster
Wells Road.
Karlie Moore, 23, of Pasco, died on the
scene when the 2002 Hyundai Elantra she
was riding in — which was being pursued on
Foster Wells Road by Franklin County Sher-
iff’s Office deputies — crossed onto Highway
395 and collided with a semitruck, according
to a Washington State Patrol report.
The collision occurred at about 4:15 p.m.
according to the police report.
The semi truck was driven by Harold
Matuterivera, 40, of Milton-Freewater. Matu-
terivera was not injured in the collision.
The Hyundai Elantra was driven by Ricky
G. Cruz, 28, of Pasco. Cruz was injured and
transported by helicopter to Sacred Heart
Medical Center in Spokane.
No information is available on why the
vehicle was being pursued. According to the
police report, charges are pending against
Cruz.
— Walla Walla Union-Bulletin
Shown are noon positions of weather systems and precipitation. Temperature bands are highs for the day.
-10s
-0s
0s
showers t-storms
10s
rain
20s
flurries
30s
snow
40s
ice
50s
60s
cold front
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