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S entinel
C ottage G rove
AWARD WINNING NEWS SOURCE SINCE 1889
SOUTH LANE AND DOUGLAS COUNTY'S MOST AWARD-WINNING
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 7, 2017
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"WE ARE A VILLAGE"
A mother asked her city to help save her son. Nearly
two years later, there was House Bill 3030.
I
t was raining
the night Karen
cmay@cgsentinel.com
Munsell’s phone
rang a little after 4 a.m.
Her son had been at a party and now he was sit-
ting in his car, an inch to the left of death with no
idea of where he was. He’d crashed into a cement
wall. He was panicked. So was Karen.
That was December 11, 2015. In the two years
that have passed, Munsell has written letters,
researched state law, spoken at city council and
school board meetings, the state legislature, con-
fronted every smoke shop owner in the city and
collapsed sobbing into several pairs of arms in a
quest to save her child and prevent another moth-
er from getting that panicked, 4 a.m. phone call.
Now, she waits to see if the Oregon Legislature
will ban the drug that nearly killed her son.
“He didn’t spend Mother’s Day with me,"
Munsell says. But her tone is no longer weighed
down with the anguish and disappointment of
those dark days when she no longer knew the
boy standing in front of her, screaming. Now, her
words escape a tightly guarded smile, holding
cautious optimism because this is a day-by-day
victory. “He went fi shing. Do you know how long
it’s been since he’s been fi shing?” she asked.
The answer is years.
On December 11, Munsell sprang from bed
with her husband, Graig. Their son was begging
for them to come get him, but he didn’t know
where he was.
“All he kept saying was that he was in an acci-
dent and he thought he was in Veneta,” Munsell
said. “He was house sitting for his brother and all
By Caitlyn May
Above, Don Williams, Cindy Weeldreyer, Tom Munroe, Karen Munsell, Richard Meyers, Scott Shepherd and Krista
Parent pose for a photo. Below, Munsell holds two whip-its like the ones she found in her family's shop.
EDUCATION
Kennedy's new name
Results from superinten-
dent investigation. PAGE A11
Kennedy Alternative High
School got a new name
PAGE A7
INDEX
POLITICS
Investigation results
he kept saying was that he had to get back to take
care of his brother’s dog.” The line would hold
their son’s desperate cries for help before going
dead only to ring again pressing the pair on where
they were and to please hurry.
“We drove toward Veneta,” Munsell said. “I
tried to get him to tell me what he saw around
him, trying to fi gure out where he was. And then
the last time he called me he said he heard water
and all I could hear were semi trucks and I just
kept asking him ‘Where are you?’”
After stopping at a convenience store to ask if
the clerk had seen an accident, the couple stood
outside. “I said, Graig we need an angel.”
Then her phone rang.
“He said, ‘Is this Karen?’ And I said ‘Yes,’ and
he said ‘My name is Robert and I’ve found your
son.’”
Robert was a retired paramedic and he stayed
with their son until they arrived. The car was to-
taled but their son was still conscious and another
car sat at the scene.
“He must have been calling his friends when
he was hang-
ing up on us,”
Munsell said.
Half a dozen
young
men
exited the car
and lit Graig’s
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temper.
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“His
son
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has been in
an accident,
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we’re standing
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Corner of Sixth and Whiteaker, Cottage Grove
_______________
VOLUME 129 • NUMBER 47
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70º/44º
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day forecast please
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