4A COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL NOVEMBER 15, 2017
O PINION
Offbeat Oregon History: Car chase at Crater Lake
Race Williams, the
most
popular fi ctional
For The Sentinel
private detective in the
pages of Black Mask
Magazine throughout the late 1920s, had a per-
sonal motto: “Anything is possible today.”
Having presumably never visited Crater Lake
National Park, Williams may not have known
how right he was.
Crater Lake is an odd spot. Strange things just
seem to happen there — often enough to be no-
ticed, and more often than is the case at other na-
tional parks. Supernatural suggestions have been
suggested from time to time — a curse of the Na-
tive American spirits of the place, perhaps. Oth-
ers say it’s a combination of random chance and
a variety of unfriendly characteristics of the park
— its remoteness, its winter weather, its attrac-
tiveness to people seeking seclusion, and so on.
Whatever the reason, the place seems to come
in for more than its fair share of strange events.
Quite possibly the strangest of all these events
happened on a sunny summer morning of Aug.
29, 1982.
On that day, around 7 a.m., Patrol Ranger Alice
Siebecker was on her way back to the lodge on
Oregon Highway 62 when a brand-new Volvo se-
dan raced past her, doing about 65 miles per hour,
going in the opposite direction.
By Finn JD John
Siebecker turned quickly around and gave
chase. The highway in that spot was a 45-mph
zone. Rangers in national parks such as Crater
Lake are law-enforcement offi cers, charged with
making sure park visitors don’t break the rules
and empowered to ticket them when they do.
But when Siebecker pulled in behind the Volvo,
its speed increased. It wasn’t a high-speed chase,
not yet at least — but clearly the other driver
wasn’t pulling over.
They drove on, a little less than a mile. Then
the car lurched and swerved sharply. And then —
A big explosion lit up the interior of the Volvo,
blowing the glass out of all the windows. Out of
control, it fl ew off the road and into a gully, went
airborne, traveled about 500 feet and crashed to a
stop on a pumice embankment.
Then the car lay there. The driver never moved.
But, considering the size of the explosion Sie-
becker had seen, she likely didn’t expect him to.
The shock of the blast had actually bellied out the
sheet metal of the car’s roof.
Siebecker, of course, called for backup imme-
diately, and soon other rangers were on the scene.
Worried that the car might have more bombs in it,
they stayed well away from it while they waited
for the Jackson County Sheriff’s Department and
FBI bomb squads to arrive.
The Volvo’s driver, they learned, had been in-
stantly killed by the explosion. And the cause of
the explosion? A hand grenade. The driver had
pulled the pin out of the grenade, possibly intend-
ing to throw it at the pursuing ranger’s vehicle;
but he apparently dropped it beside the seat and
was unable to retrieve it in time. Or, maybe he
intended to blow himself up with it; investigators
couldn’t exactly ask him what his intentions had
been.
Inside the car, investigators found a knife, an
automatic pistol tucked in an easily accessible
spot in the door pocket; two rifl es; three fake IDs,
each with a different name and address on it, and
two sets of California license plates. The car was
traced to a rental agency in San Diego, and it had
been reported stolen.
It took the FBI some time to fi gure out who the
man was; the grenade had blown his left hand
clean off and had rendered his face unrecogniz-
able. Eventually, though, they identifi ed him as
a German national named Amdris Merzejuskis,
who was wanted on a Texas warrant for drug
smuggling.
Possibly the strangest part of the Merzejuskis
story was how completely it seemed to vanish.
Coverage of the incident in the Portland Orego-
nian — the content of which is searchable through
the libraries at OSU — was limited to a small and
carefully worded item on the cover of the North-
west section. “Mark Miller of the FBI’s Medford
offi ce said a hand grenade pin was found in the
car and the grenade apparently was activated by
the driver,” it reads.
Similar stories, or versions of the same story,
ran in several other daily papers as well. But then
... nothing.
So, what was the real story? Why was Merze-
juskis so desperate to avoid contact with a park
ranger — so much so that he was prepared to ei-
ther kill her or himself to avoid it? Or was there
something in the car, some evidence, that he de-
stroyed with the grenade? And most of all, why
didn’t the newspapers follow up on the story?
The truth may be out there, or perhaps we’ll
never know; but it will probably take fi ling a Free-
dom of Information Act request with the federal
government to fi nd out for sure.
As for Ranger Alice Siebecker, well, she seems
to have concluded that the job of patrol ranger at
Crater Lake was more than she wanted to take on.
She left the park soon after the incident to devote
her attention full-time to her other job — that of
a violin maker. Later she rejoined the National
Park Service — but at Yellowstone this time. One
imagines she’d had enough of Crater Lake.
Dr. Fuhrman: Preventing acne with a better diet
By Joel Fuhrman MD
Acne is the most common
skin condition in the U.S. About
85 percent of people in the
Western world experience acne
during their teenage years, but it can occur at any age. Acne is more
than just pimples and it can leave permanent scars. In many people,
acne can seriously affect quality of life, causing low self-esteem,
withdrawal from social situations, anxiety and depression.
A pimple or lesion forms when a pore in the skin begins to clog
with old, dead skin cells. Usually these cells are simply shed from
the surface of the skin, but if too much oil is being produced, the
dead cells can stick together and become trapped inside the pore.
Bacteria also play a role; they can grow and multiply inside the
pore, resulting in infl ammation.
Scientifi c studies have demonstrated that the diet is very import-
ant, because what we eat can affect the hormones that contribute
to the oil production, hyperproliferation and infl ammation that
cause acne. The two acne-promoting dietary factors that have been
most extensively studied are dairy products and high glycemic load
foods. These factors infl uence hormonal and infl ammatory factors
increasing acne prevalence and severity. Hormonal infl uences that
raise insulin and insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) levels are
key. Elevated IGF-1 levels lead to changes in gene expression that
cause infl ammation, hormonal changes, increased oil production
and development of acne lesions. Of important concern is that the
same hormonal milieu of high IGF-1 and high insulin also promotes
breast and prostate cancer, so it is important to maintain a diet that
is hormonally favorable all through life.
In addition to dairy and high glycemic foods, excessive oil pro-
duction by the skin can be exacerbated by oil intake. Vegetable oils
drives omega-6 intake up, which have pro-infl ammatory effects,
and high omega-6 intake is associated with the development of
acne. The effects of oil intake on acne is exacerbated by the con-
For The Sentinel
sumption of high glycemic carbohydrates, such as commercial
baked goods. Higher intake of omega-3 fatty acids is associated
with reduced likelihood of acne, as omega-3s counteract the pro-in-
fl ammatory processes that drive acne. Just because overeating nuts
and oil (especially peanuts and peanut butter) can contribute to se-
bum production and acne does not mean nuts and seeds need to
be eliminated from the diet to help acne. It is the combination of
the glycemic load of the diet and other hormonal promoters acting
together to produce acne. So excessive intake of fat may increase
sebum production, but this tendency is permitted and exacerbated
by the glycemic effect of the diet. When your diet has more beans,
greens, seeds, onions and mushrooms and is free of high glycemic
carbohydrates, it can tolerate more fat, without any acne-promoting
effects on sebum production, because the antioxidant and phyto-
chemical exposure is higher, and the glycemic load of the diet is
lower. So up to two ounces of raw nuts and seeds can generally be
eaten by those on an oil-free high-nutrient (Nutritarian) diet without
creating acne. But once you start eating refi ned and high glycemic
carbohydrates, your body will be more sensitive to the fat in your
diet, maybe even from nuts.
The two most important hormonal factors that drive acne are
IGF-1 and insulin. In addition to avoiding oils, to prevent or resolve
acne, avoid dairy products and high-glycemic load foods, especial-
ly sweeteners and commercial baked goods and make sure to get
an adequate supply of micronutrients. Remember, high glycemic
carbohydrates can raise both insulin and IGF-1.
Protein intake is the major factor that determines circulating IGF-
1 levels, especially protein from dairy products. A three-year pro-
spective study of 9-15 year old girls found a 20 percent increase in
acne prevalence in girls that had two or more servings of milk per
day compared to less than one per week. This association held true
for total, whole, low fat and skim milk. The same researchers found
a similar association in boys who drank skim milk (milk highest in
protein). Furthermore, in the Nurses’ Health Study, dairy products
eaten during high school were associated with acne during women’s
teenage years.
Glycemic load (GL) is a measure of the effect of a certain food
on blood glucose levels. High-GL foods like refi ned carbohydrates
produce dangerous spikes in blood glucose, leading to excessive
insulin levels in the blood (hyperinsulinemia), which contribute to
diabetes, heart disease, and several cancers. Hyperinsulinemia not
only promotes infl ammation but also raises IGF-1 levels, further
contributing to acne. A low glycemic load diet has been shown to
improve acne symptoms, and decrease IGF-1 and skin oil produc-
tion in several studies.
Blood levels of zinc, carotenoids, and vitamin E are known to be
lower in acne patients compared to those without acne, suggesting
that maintaining micronutrient adequacy may help to prevent acne.
Carotenoids are abundant in green and orange vegetables, and vita-
min E is abundant in nuts and seeds. Although pumpkin seeds and
hemp seeds are rich in zinc, zinc absorption effi ciency may be low
on a plant-based diet, so a multivitamin and mineral supplement is
recommended to assure optimal levels of zinc, iodine, vitamin D
and B12.
Hundreds of people with severe acne, of all ages have resolved
their acne, and gained a healthy colorful glow to their skin with a
Nutritarian diet. Not only does the richness in antioxidants protect
against acne, but it gives skin a healthy color and more youthful
appearance as one ages.
Dr. Fuhrman is a #1 New York Times best-selling author and a
family physician specializing in lifestyle and nutritional medicine.
Visit his informative website at DrFuhrman.com. Submit your
questions and comments about this column directly to newsques-
tions@drfuhrman.com. The full reference list for this article can be
found at DrFuhrman.com.
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