Interstate messes draw ire
State police report bottles of urine littering highway
By JESSICA KELLER
ARGUS OBSERVER
Friday, August 8, 2008 10:32 AM PDT
ONTARIO—High gas prices may be influencing the Oregon State Police in an unanticipated way locally, as the department reports an increase in the number of bottles filled with urine scattered along Interstate 84.
OSP Sgt. Jason Reese said in the past month the department has received notice of a large quantity of urine-filled bottles sitting along the shoulder of the interstate between Ontario and Farewell Bend. Reese said the Oregon Department of Transportation litter crew has picked up between 200 and 300 urine-filled bottles in a 16-mile stretch.
“And just going up Three-Mile Hill, they collected 100 bottles,” he said.
The suspected culprits: truckdrivers who are driving slower because of rising gas prices and bypassing stops at rest areas or truck stops, thus drawing out a trip, by storing their urine in containers and then dumping them.
Reese said he has spoken with truckdrivers over the CB radio and learned some drivers will collect their urine in a bottle while driving and then toss the capped containers out the window while driving on an upgrade because they are driving at slower speeds and the truckdrivers can maintain control of their semis.
“Which is pretty disgusting,” Reese said. It is against the law in Oregon to throw human waste from a moving vehicle, Reese said, and OSP is trying to find a way to inform truckdrivers who may do such things they could face a misdemeanor charge and a fine of $250 if caught.
In other OSP news: An Ontario man accidentally shot on his private hunting reserve was expected to be released from a Boise hospital Tuesday after sustaining multiple injuries during a pheasant-hunting session Aug. 1. Reese said Roy Youngblood, 67, was shot at about 8:10 a.m. at his private hunting reserve, Flying High Game Birds, 4460 Oak Road, Ontario, by someone hunting in a five-person guest party from Washington and Idaho. Reese said Youngblood had returned to his house after the shoot began and then returned to the hunting area without the hunters’ knowledge. The shooter, Thomas Foisy, 24, Nampa, apparently shot at a pheasant when it flew up in Youngblood’s vicinity, and Youngblood was hit with a No. 6 shot shotgun round, injuring him in the right shoulder and upper arm, right upper chest and right side of his neck, Reese said.
“They weren’t aware of what was beyond what they were shooting at, which was the victim,” Reese said of the hunting party and Foisy.
Youngblood was taken to Holy Rosary Medical Center and then transported by ground to Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center in Boise. Reese said, after speaking to the witnesses, the shooting was determined to be an accident.
He said Foisy felt badly about the incident and made several trips to the hospital checking on Youngblood.
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