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Tractor tumble
Roger Churchill and Douglas County sheriff's deputy Justin Barnes examine a bulldozer that landed in the Churchills’ pond in Dixonville Wednesday morning. Driver Curt Johnson Sr. of Myrtle Creek was hurt in the accident. He was in good condition this morning at Mercy Medical Center in Roseburg.
DIXONVILLE -- Roger and Vicky Churchill live a life of rustic charm amid the cicadas, dragonflies and butterflies that inhabit their forested Buckhorn Road property.
But Wednesday they got a visit from a critter of another kind.
A massive, yellow Caterpillar slid down a hillside at the western edge of their property and dropped backside-first into their tiny, algae-covered pond.
The bulldozer was being used to move logs on the property adjacent to theirs when it came crashing down the hill around 11:10 a.m. Vicky Churchill discovered it when she returned home from running errands that afternoon.
"God, I came home and there it was," she said. "We didn't know who it belonged to, or ... who was going to get it out."
The bulldozer mowed down several fir trees like they were matchsticks and took out a fence before splashing into the pond and sticking fast in the muck.
Apparently the driver, Curt Johnson Sr. of Myrtle Creek, bailed out as the machine careened down the hill, although he said this morning from his Mercy Medical Center bed that he can't remember a thing.
"I'm sore as hell," Johnson said. "I don't remember nothing ... I woke up in the hospital."
Johnson said the engine apparently died, causing the machine to lurch over the edge of the precipice.
Johnson and his son, Curt Johnson Jr., are subcontractors for Glide Lumber Products, which is harvesting timber on property owned by Bill Vian, according to a Glide Lumber spokesman.
Johnson was told he had a concussion, but he hoped to be released today.
A Mercy spokeswoman described his condition as "good" this morning.
Curt Johnson Jr. drove the bulldozer out of the Churchills' pond early this morning and told them what had happened.
He said his father had been thrown around the inside the cab and managed to jump just before it dropped down the steep hillside and into the pond about 60 yards below.
He was unconscious when he was taken by ambulance to the hospital.
"He's just real lucky to be alive," Vicky Churchill said.
Curt Johnson Jr. assured her they would repair the fence and get rid of the trees that the bulldozer took out on its way down.
"I don't expect there will be any problem," she said. "He was just really nice ... he said, 'Boy, that must have been a shock.'"
* You can reach reporter Christian Bringhurst at 957-4213 or by e-mail at cbringhurst@newsreview.info.
But Wednesday they got a visit from a critter of another kind.
A massive, yellow Caterpillar slid down a hillside at the western edge of their property and dropped backside-first into their tiny, algae-covered pond.
The bulldozer was being used to move logs on the property adjacent to theirs when it came crashing down the hill around 11:10 a.m. Vicky Churchill discovered it when she returned home from running errands that afternoon.
"God, I came home and there it was," she said. "We didn't know who it belonged to, or ... who was going to get it out."
The bulldozer mowed down several fir trees like they were matchsticks and took out a fence before splashing into the pond and sticking fast in the muck.
Apparently the driver, Curt Johnson Sr. of Myrtle Creek, bailed out as the machine careened down the hill, although he said this morning from his Mercy Medical Center bed that he can't remember a thing.
"I'm sore as hell," Johnson said. "I don't remember nothing ... I woke up in the hospital."
Johnson said the engine apparently died, causing the machine to lurch over the edge of the precipice.
Johnson and his son, Curt Johnson Jr., are subcontractors for Glide Lumber Products, which is harvesting timber on property owned by Bill Vian, according to a Glide Lumber spokesman.
Johnson was told he had a concussion, but he hoped to be released today.
A Mercy spokeswoman described his condition as "good" this morning.
Curt Johnson Jr. drove the bulldozer out of the Churchills' pond early this morning and told them what had happened.
He said his father had been thrown around the inside the cab and managed to jump just before it dropped down the steep hillside and into the pond about 60 yards below.
He was unconscious when he was taken by ambulance to the hospital.
"He's just real lucky to be alive," Vicky Churchill said.
Curt Johnson Jr. assured her they would repair the fence and get rid of the trees that the bulldozer took out on its way down.
"I don't expect there will be any problem," she said. "He was just really nice ... he said, 'Boy, that must have been a shock.'"
* You can reach reporter Christian Bringhurst at 957-4213 or by e-mail at cbringhurst@newsreview.info.
