The junction of Highways 6 and 8 in Gales Creek on February 24, 2021. Photo: Chas Hundley
Two people are the latest killed in a crash on the Wilson River Highway stretching from Banks to Tillamook after a collision on Saturday. The two-vehicle crash was located in Tillamook County near mile marker 30, about three miles west of the Coast Range Summit. According to the Oregon State Police (OSP), emergency personnel and police responded to the crash just after 1 p.m. Saturday, July 31. The preliminary investigation conducted by OSP showed that Gary Thornock, 50, of Provo, Utah was driving a Ford F350 eastbound on Highway 6 when Thornock crossed into the westbound lane and struck a GMC Sierra pickup driven by Jason Pierce, 43, of Fairview. Inside the GMC were three passengers; an adult and two minors. In the Ford, three youths were passengers. Pierce and one of the youths were killed in what the Tillamook County Sheriff's Office described as a "head-on" collision. The adult passenger and other youth were transported to Portland-area hospitals with serious injuries. Thornock and two passengers were not transported for injuries from the area of the crash; one passenger was. In addition to OSP, the Tillamook County Sheriffs Office, Tillamook Fire & Rescue, Forest Grove Fire & Rescue, Banks Fire District, and the Oregon Department of Transportation aided at the scene.
A crash in Glenwood snarled Labor Day weekend traffic for up to three miles and resulted in minor injuries to at least four people, Forest Grove Fire & Rescue said Saturday.
A two-vehicle crash on Highway 47 between Banks and Forest Grove on Wednesday evening led to the arrest of a Banks man on charges of DUII, reckless driving and assault.
A minor was killed Friday afternoon after being struck by a vehicle in a parking lot near the Forest Grove Dollar Tree, Forest Grove Police Chief Henry Reimann told News in the Grove.
A proposed toll road linking Forest Grove and Tillamook faced opposition, but Gales Creek residents would take any road they could get, according to a 1925 newspaper article.
"County Jail Filled to Overflow With Arrests Made" including Ernest Narver, Frank Kearns, Thomas Young, and Roy Kearns, all arrested at Balm Grove on liquor possession charges in Prohibition-era Gales Creek.
People are shooting exploding targets and firing hot lead into dry vegetation in the Tillamook Forest with predictable results: Five wildfires since May. These fires are all preventable, said Acting Forest Grove District Forester Stephanie Beall.
