B-17

Don't know which newspaper you get down there, but if you haven't heard, Dick Weber was shot in the back yesterday by a crazed meth-head.

Here is part of an e-mail I sent to some friends about the incident...

"Yesterday a close, shooting friend of mine who is retired was panning gold down along Cow Creek, a major tributary of the South Umpqua River hereabouts. (Ken, That is the river next to the motel you stay in here, in downtown Rosebud...)

Anyway, he was bent over working his pan, when there is a major explosion just behind him. Turns out one of those poor little homeless transient waifs who lives under bridges wants to steal his relatively new (couple of years old) pickup truck. So using a rifle he stole from a home somewhere in the area, has just sneaked up and shot my friend in the back. My friend on hearing the noise and feeling the blow, figures out what has happened and lunges forward into the creek. When he comes up for air, the guy is still there, pointing the rifle at him, and proceeds to rob him of his wallet and car keys, but, luckily, doesn't shoot him again.

The shooter then steals the truck and drives away leaving my friend there to die. My friend doesn't want to die. So, he manages to struggle up out of the creek to the road, and walks to I-5. He tries to flag down passing cars but no one will stop for quite a while. Eventually he does manage to stop a local guy who takes him to the closest police station. The police transport him to hospital.

Turns out the bullet has hit his left shoulder blade and ricocheted up through the meat, out the top of the shoulder, and then into his neck. It is now lodged in the base of his skull. My friend, having worked in the woods all his life, is TOUGH. He is now at home, recovering. They are not going to try to remove the bullet because of its position.

The cops, in the meantime, put an APB out on the truck within 25 minutes of the shooting, and soon caught up with the truck which was also now on I-5. After a lengthy high speed chase, the perp is caught. Turns out he is high as a kite on meth when captured. I can't understand why the cops didn't just shoot the S.O.B., but they didn't. He is now lodged in Douglas County Jail pending posting of $1,500,000 bail, charged with Attempted Murder, Armed Robbery, Burglary, Felon in Possession of a Firearm, Auto Theft, Evading Arrest, Reckless Driving, Assaulting a Police Officer, and numerous other offenses.

As I told Dick's brother Avann this morning..."If I was the guy, I'd beg the judge to give me life without parole...I sure as hell wouldn't want to get thrown out of prison while Dick is still alive. Dick is a very quiet, calm, serious gentleman. He is also one of the best practical rifle shots I've ever known. I'd bet money Dick could hit the guy in the head, first shot, at 400 yards with any one of his several dozen rifles anytime or anywhere the opportunity and desire presented themselves.. This is one of the very few times to my knowledge Dick has ever gone anywhere without a serious size pistol on his belt (for social occasions, of course). That is probably the only reason the shooter is still alive today. Anyway, this is backwoods, redneck, hill country and I doubt Dick will ever forget this guy's face or what it means to him. And knowing Douglas County, I suspect he'd get a medal for shooting prowess if he did it, not a jury conviction."

And for any liberals who might stumble on this, we locals like the county just that way, too.

AC ,Very tidy approach. I'm not even a red neck. roger