Sweet Home diverted a major tragedy Wednesday when a bus carrying the community’s freshman baseball team and a milk tanker collided one mile south of Monmouth on Highway 99W Wednesday about 3:10 p.m. injuring several, including the bus driver and a coach.
No lives were lost although the 1999 model bus was destroyed.
The driver of the semi was Hugh W. Reeves, 43, of Salem. The tractor trailer was owned by Moo Lines of Stayton. He was seriously injured.
All of the Sweet Home students were back home by about 6:40 p.m., but the driver, Adeline Hight, and coach, Tim O’Donnell, remained at hospitals for evaluation, SHHS Principal Pat Stineff said. Four Husky players were examined and treated for minor injuries at Salem hospitals.
Hight and Coach O’Donnell were both released from hospitals by Friday. Hight is being treated for a broken wrist.
That afternoon Coach O’Donnell attended the varsity baseball team’s playoff game against Central at Husky Field.
Wearing a chest brace due to a cracked rib and three cracked vertebrae, O’Donnell was greeted warmly Supt. Bill Hampton and SHHS students.
O’Donnell, who teaches at the junior high, said, “Somebody has to give the bus driver a High 5!”
He said Hight did a tremendous job trying to divert the accident.
“When I heard her moan, I knew she was in pain,” O’Donnell said of the crash.
O’Donnell said his athletic bag was on the seat directly behind the bus driver and he was seated behind both. The point of impact was the left front fender of the bus directly in front of the driver. He doesn’t remember anything until he was asked by Coach Darren Perry if there was anyone he wanted contacted.
“I told him to call my kids,” Coach O’Donnell said. “I wanted to go to the Corvallis hospital but the paramedic told me they were taking me to the nearest trauma center (Salem). That word ‘trauma’ stuck out in my mind.”
In addition to the cracked rib and vertebrae, Coach O’Donnell also dimpled a bone in his shoulder.
“Doctors told me, someone was looking out for me,” Coach O’Donnell said.
The team had been traveling to Central High School for a Capital Conference ballgame.
The remaining students were transported by the Central School District to Central High School. Most of the students were picked up by their parents. A few returned to Sweet Home on a smaller school bus sent by the district.
Keith Crum was driving a log truck for Little Log Logging of Cottage Grove and came upon the accident shortly after it occurred.
He said a vehicle in front of him pulled on its emergency flashers to signal a problem. Both vehicles stopped and that’s when he saw the Sweet Home School bus at the side of the road.
“I could see it was damaged badly,” Crum said.
He said emergency vehicles were on scene very quickly.
“It was just a matter of minutes,” Crum said. “There were state troopers and ambulances here immediately.”
It appeared that three or four of the ambulances headed north and one or two went south, Crum said.
Team members Tomas Rosa and Sean Swett were sitting at the back of the bus when the accident happened. Neither saw what happened.
“It just felt like it was on the brakes,” Swett said.
The impact was much harder than hitting the brakes, Rosa said. “Everybody bounced and everything. Our coach got it bad and the driver got it bad.”
Rosa and Swett said the driver of the truck walked out of the accident before he collapsed.
Rosa said he had a headache following the accident. Swett had a cut and bruise on his right eye.
They were taken to the staff room at Central High School, they said.
“Central did a very nice job,” Athletic Director Larry Johnson said. They tranported the team, fed them and kept adults with them following the accident.
The milk tanker involved in the accident was empty. The Statesman Journal on Friday reported Moo Lines Inc. of Stayton, has a history of safety violations.
According to a government report, the Statesman Journal noted, the company has 105 violations during safety inspections since 1998.
Those violations included allowing drivers to work for excessive hours and allowing trucks with defects to be used.
The newspaper also said that the truck driver has three speeding tickets on his record since 1990.
SHHS Principal Pat Stineff said the school day had basically ended when the district received notice of the crash.
“Barb Weld told me she thought our kids had been in some kind of bad accident,” Stineff said.
Within minutes, TV stations were calling the office.
“Steve Emmert called in because his son, Tyler, had called,” Stineff said.
Mrs. Weld rounded up a list of the freshman team players and the secretaries began calling parents, Stineff said. “Some of the parents were on their way to the game,” she noted.
“It was a gift from God that no one was killed,” Stineff said.
By Wednesday evening TV broadcasting units had arrived in front of the high school. Some remained until Thursday evening, Stineff said.
Supt. Hampton prepared an information paper about the accident and the condition of the driver, coach and students. That information was read to all students during the first period on Thursday.
“We wanted to eliminate as many rumors as possible,” Stineff said.
By Thursday, Stineff said, the school and students “were fine…we just wanted to get back to a normal school day. The boys were still a little shaken up. It’s something they will all remember for a long time.”
Stineff, Athletic Director Larry Johnson and counselor Pat Haneberg brought the boys together to talk on Thursday.
The Central School District needs commended for their actions, Stineff said.
“They treated our kids like royalty,” she said. They gave them sodas, cookies and pizza. One of their vice principals brought some of the boys to their high school because the boys didn’t want to get back on a bus just yet.”
Sweet Home school board member Tim Crocker was in the area and went to the site to assist as well.
“The kids said they believe the bus driver saved their lives,” Stineff said.
Members of the team who were on the bus included Coaches O’Donnell and Perry and players Jared Anable, Tyler Emmert, Ronnie Garcia, Tyler Hannen, Joe Kisselburgh, Jeb Koechig, Tim Matuszak, Cody Miller, Anthony Mink, Charles Murray, Lyle Ogston, Tomas Rosa, Sean Swett and Josh Walker.