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ATV fatalities
Kellen Bean and Erica Goetz
TOKETEE — Two freshman students at Glide High School were killed late Friday morning when an all-terrain vehicle they were riding on slid on frosty pavement and went over a cliff.
Erica Goetz and Kellen Bean, both 14, died after being thrown from the ATV and falling 100 feet down the cliff to a creek bed around 11:45 a.m. Friday. They were fatally injured after they lost control and the ATV failed to make a corner.
Devin Lamp, a classmate of the pair, described them as best friends. They liked to ride ATVs together, watch movies and just hang out, she said.
“They were the nicest people around,” Lamp said.
Another teenager riding on a second ATV was injured after he tried to climb down the cliff to help his friends. Cody Varner, 13, suffered a broken leg and other injuries. He was listed in serious condition Saturday afternoon at St. Charles Medical Center in Bend, where he was taken by an Oregon National Guard helicopter.
Goetz and Bean were the third and fourth teenagers from the Glide area to be killed in the past seven months. Willie Wilkinson, 19, a wrestling and soccer standout, was killed in an auto accident in May.
Crystal Wall, 19, a star volleyball and basketball player, met the same fate four months later.
“This poor little community has been rocked,” said Marcia Santos, a teacher at Glide Middle School.
Both Glide High School and Glide Middle School, where Goetz and Bean went to school last year and where Varner is an eighth-grader this year, will set up safe rooms for students when they return to classes Monday. Glide schools do not have classes on Fridays.
School counselors and others trained in grief counseling, including a specialist from the Douglas Education Service District, will be able for students who need someone to talk with, high school Principal Pam Maurice said.
Outside grief counselors will go to Toketee Falls Elementary School, located 60 miles east of Roseburg in the community where all of the teenagers involved in Friday’s incident resided.
Goetz and Bean were riding an ATV about a quarter-mile away from where 15 to 20 homes are nestled together, said Wayne Stinson, Douglas County’s emergency services manager. Most of the residences serve as living quarters for the families of employees of Pacific Power and the U.S. Forest Service.
When the ATV slid across the pavement in an area the sun doesn’t reach because of the shade from nearby trees, the students were unable to keep control of the vehicle, Stinson said. Once they went over the side of the cliff, it was a straight drop down.
“It’s in an area where there’s no room for error,” Stinson said.
Varner and his riding partner, Glide High sophomore Anthony Anderson, 16, tried to climb down to assist Goetz and Bean but the terrain — located at an altitude of between 4,500 and 5,000 feet — was too steep, authorities said.
Anderson ran to the nearest house to call for help. Meanwhile, Varner continued to climb down the cliff. He fell and landed in the creek bed.
It took emergency crews more than four hours to reach the teens and rescue Varner and remove the bodies of the other two. Officers trained in steep terrain rescue responded from several agencies, including the Glide Fire Department, Douglas County Search and Rescue and Douglas County Fire District No. 2.
Goetz and Bean were already dead when rescuers reached them, according to a report from the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office.
More than 50 teenagers and a number of adults attended a candlelight vigil Friday evening at Glide Baptist Church. They came to grieve but they also shared the good times they spent with Goetz and Bean, Lamp said.
Later that evening, some of the teens went to St. Joseph Catholic Church in Roseburg, where Goetz attended church.
Santos, a history teacher, taught both Goetz and Bean.
“They were two really good kids,” Santos said. “She was one who always brought a smile to your face. She was very intelligent. Kellen liked to have fun. He was the type who knew no enemy. He liked everyone.”
Santos said she wasn’t surprised Varner, who is one of her students this year, tried to help, even at risk of his own safety.
“Cody wouldn’t have slowed down. He would have gone right over to assist,” she said.
Bean was a lineman on Glide’s junior varsity football team this season, where he played on both offense and defense. Varsity coach Jody Doty said he had looked for Bean to contribute heavily to the team’s success in the future, much like his brother, Nick, who played on the Wildcat team that reached the playoffs this year.
“He was a real hard worker,” Doty said of Kellen Bean. “I always appreciated his hard work. We’re really going to miss him.”
Maurice said she expects the fountain outside the front door of the high school to become a makeshift shrine for the two students who died. People had brought candles and cards in remembrance of Wilkinson and Wall when they died.
• You can reach reporter John Sowell at 957-4209 or by e-mail at jsowell@newsreview.info.
Erica Goetz and Kellen Bean, both 14, died after being thrown from the ATV and falling 100 feet down the cliff to a creek bed around 11:45 a.m. Friday. They were fatally injured after they lost control and the ATV failed to make a corner.
Devin Lamp, a classmate of the pair, described them as best friends. They liked to ride ATVs together, watch movies and just hang out, she said.
“They were the nicest people around,” Lamp said.
Another teenager riding on a second ATV was injured after he tried to climb down the cliff to help his friends. Cody Varner, 13, suffered a broken leg and other injuries. He was listed in serious condition Saturday afternoon at St. Charles Medical Center in Bend, where he was taken by an Oregon National Guard helicopter.
Goetz and Bean were the third and fourth teenagers from the Glide area to be killed in the past seven months. Willie Wilkinson, 19, a wrestling and soccer standout, was killed in an auto accident in May.
Crystal Wall, 19, a star volleyball and basketball player, met the same fate four months later.
“This poor little community has been rocked,” said Marcia Santos, a teacher at Glide Middle School.
Both Glide High School and Glide Middle School, where Goetz and Bean went to school last year and where Varner is an eighth-grader this year, will set up safe rooms for students when they return to classes Monday. Glide schools do not have classes on Fridays.
School counselors and others trained in grief counseling, including a specialist from the Douglas Education Service District, will be able for students who need someone to talk with, high school Principal Pam Maurice said.
Outside grief counselors will go to Toketee Falls Elementary School, located 60 miles east of Roseburg in the community where all of the teenagers involved in Friday’s incident resided.
Goetz and Bean were riding an ATV about a quarter-mile away from where 15 to 20 homes are nestled together, said Wayne Stinson, Douglas County’s emergency services manager. Most of the residences serve as living quarters for the families of employees of Pacific Power and the U.S. Forest Service.
When the ATV slid across the pavement in an area the sun doesn’t reach because of the shade from nearby trees, the students were unable to keep control of the vehicle, Stinson said. Once they went over the side of the cliff, it was a straight drop down.
“It’s in an area where there’s no room for error,” Stinson said.
Varner and his riding partner, Glide High sophomore Anthony Anderson, 16, tried to climb down to assist Goetz and Bean but the terrain — located at an altitude of between 4,500 and 5,000 feet — was too steep, authorities said.
Anderson ran to the nearest house to call for help. Meanwhile, Varner continued to climb down the cliff. He fell and landed in the creek bed.
It took emergency crews more than four hours to reach the teens and rescue Varner and remove the bodies of the other two. Officers trained in steep terrain rescue responded from several agencies, including the Glide Fire Department, Douglas County Search and Rescue and Douglas County Fire District No. 2.
Goetz and Bean were already dead when rescuers reached them, according to a report from the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office.
More than 50 teenagers and a number of adults attended a candlelight vigil Friday evening at Glide Baptist Church. They came to grieve but they also shared the good times they spent with Goetz and Bean, Lamp said.
Later that evening, some of the teens went to St. Joseph Catholic Church in Roseburg, where Goetz attended church.
Santos, a history teacher, taught both Goetz and Bean.
“They were two really good kids,” Santos said. “She was one who always brought a smile to your face. She was very intelligent. Kellen liked to have fun. He was the type who knew no enemy. He liked everyone.”
Santos said she wasn’t surprised Varner, who is one of her students this year, tried to help, even at risk of his own safety.
“Cody wouldn’t have slowed down. He would have gone right over to assist,” she said.
Bean was a lineman on Glide’s junior varsity football team this season, where he played on both offense and defense. Varsity coach Jody Doty said he had looked for Bean to contribute heavily to the team’s success in the future, much like his brother, Nick, who played on the Wildcat team that reached the playoffs this year.
“He was a real hard worker,” Doty said of Kellen Bean. “I always appreciated his hard work. We’re really going to miss him.”
Maurice said she expects the fountain outside the front door of the high school to become a makeshift shrine for the two students who died. People had brought candles and cards in remembrance of Wilkinson and Wall when they died.
• You can reach reporter John Sowell at 957-4209 or by e-mail at jsowell@newsreview.info.
