Coming up next on Northwest News, investigators retrieved the bodies of three people killed
in a plane crash near Marcola.
A former Duck football standout is in for the battle of his life.
And we'll show you what many of your neighbors were up to today.
Northwest News is next.
Thanks for watching CBS for Western Oregon.
And now from the combined newsrooms in Eugene, Roseburg, and Coos Bay, this is Northwest
News at 11.
The Oregon Ducks are ready for action.
The football team is now in East Lansing preparing to take on the Michigan State Spartans in less
than 24 hours.
Good evening and thanks for joining us for Northwest News on this Wednesday.
I'm Randall Whipple.
And I'm Jennifer Winters.
Good evening.
We'll be talking the Ducks later in sports.
But first, the bodies of three people killed in a plane crash have been recovered and taken
to the medical examiner's office at Sacred Heart Hospital.
The crash happened in eastern Lane County about seven miles from Marcola.
Kim Joyce has more on the recovery effort.
John Miller is orchestrating a difficult recovery mission.
The Lane County search and rescue teams are suiting up to look for the bodies of three
plane crash victims.
The single-engine aircraft disappeared off the radar sometime Sunday night over the mountainous
terrain of eastern Lane County.
The crash site is roughly 2,400 feet up near Mount Oshkosh.
There's an old spur here.
I don't know if we can drive it.
I hope that takes us to the landing.
Warehouser personnel had to cut through nearly 300 yards of thick forest lands to even let
Lane County search and rescue teams get up the moderately steep slope to get to the crash
site.
One of the warehouse officials says you can't even see the wreckage until you're nearly
on top of it.
Oh, we don't have much time.
The teams were scrambling Tuesday night to get the site pinpointed.
Patrols have been looking for the plane with three fruit growers aboard traveling from
King City in central California to Aurora near Portland.
One man was from California, the other two from Chile.
We've got a battle against darkness and we're losing that battle.
The medical examiner arrived on the scene late Wednesday afternoon.
Folks who've seen the wreckage say trees stripped the wings from the plane's body before the
fuselage crashed into the ground below, spreading debris across the forest floor.
Sunday's poor weather with low visibility may have contributed to the crash.
Investigators with the National Transportation and Safety Board are expected to be on the
site for at least two days.
I'm Tim Joyce, Northwest News.
Meanwhile, bad weather is keeping rescuers in Tanzania from landing at the site where
a charter plane carrying 10 American tourists crashed today.
There's been no word of survivors.
The plane went down on the slopes of Mount Meru, Africa's fifth largest mountain.
The string of amusement park ride accidents continue tonight.
Fourteen people, most of them children, were injured while on a midway ride at the Canadian
National Exhibition in Toronto.
Many injured were taken to the hospital with cuts and bruises and neck and back injuries.
The ride, called the Wave Swinger, apparently collapsed while attempting to ride.
Ironically, it was inspected this morning by a midway foreman and yesterday by safety
engineers.
Boeing machinists tonight are calling their new three-year contract the best in the business.
Union members approve the new pact by an 86 percent margin.
Some called it a miracle and a sign of renewed management respect for workers.
The current contract for Boeing's 44,000 machinists and aerospace workers was set to expire about
an hour from now.
Two of the Union's last three contracts ended in strikes.
Boeing, the nation's number one exporter, plans to deliver a record 620 commercial aircraft
this year.
Wildfires continue to burn out of control in Southern California.
Fire crews are particularly concerned with the so-called Willow Fire in the San Bernardino
National Forest.
It has burned nearly 53,000 acres since it began Saturday.
Investigators say it was apparently sparked by an illegal campfire.
It is now 25 percent surrounded, but there is still no estimate of full containment.
Twelve homes have also been destroyed.
Tropical storm Dennis is paying a return visit to North Carolina's Outer Banks.
At last check, the storm was stalled 110 miles east of Cape Hatteras with winds near 60 miles
per hour.
Flooding is so bad in Cape Hatteras that the only north-south highway is completely impassable,
leaving thousands stranded.
Forecasters say the system will probably linger for days off the coast, ruining at least part
of the Labor Day weekend.
President Clinton has declared nine North Carolina counties federal disaster areas.
And we have some sad news tonight to report about one of Oregon football's biggest stars
last year.
Tom Ward joins us now with the details.
Tom?
Tom, I have some disturbing news for the people around here that know Josh and know him that
well.
Former Oregon punter Josh Bidwell underwent surgical treatment tonight for a suspected
case of testicular cancer.
Bidwell, a rookie on the Green Bay Packers, practiced with the team Tuesday afternoon
and it wasn't clear when the suspected cancer had been found.
A Packers spokesman says doctors will know more about Bidwell's condition in the next
two days.
Last week, the Packers kept Bidwell as their only punter, even though he hadn't lived up
to expectations in exhibition games.
We will of course keep you updated on Bidwell's condition and have more on the Ducks' preparations
for the big game at Michigan State.
Tune up next in sports.
Keep Josh in our prayers.
You're such an outstanding young man.
Okay, thanks Tom.
And in some lighter news, the sweet smell of friendship was in the air today.
Several hundred Eugene and Sprinculari people handed out roses as a way to get to know each
other.
It's all part of the fifth annual Good Neighbor Day.
The idea is to use 10,000 roses to meet new people and get reacquainted with old friends.
Each person gets a dozen flowers.
Take 11 of those roses, give them away to other people, try to spread a little bit of
friendship.
We're looking for 10,000 ambassadors of goodwill.
City and county officials plus our own Randall Whipple were at today's event.
These well-wishers say they enjoy giving the roses away because the flowers have a special
kind of power.
And I had a rose on my desk today.
I don't know if it was from Randall or not.
We like the anonymous technique here.
Speaking of getting reacquainted, welcome back.
Thank you very much.
How are the kids?
They're doing good.
Back from maternity leave, I guess.
We'll go ahead and I'll get out my picture, the proud mom.
I hope you guys have that picture ready.
What a surprise.
You have one.
Yeah, no kidding.
As people remember, I've been on maternity leave for about three months here and there
are my children.
Haley is on the left.
Kylan is in the middle and Madison is on the right there.
Look at that big boy with his sister.
That's something.
He's two years old now.
Needless to say, proud mama is trying to adapt to being up at night.
Have her handful.
Yeah, no kidding.
But it's good to be back.
I miss you guys.
Super.
Welcome.
Kim Chewe is here.
Of course, I come back just in time for the beautiful weather to come back.
That's right.
And they're the shining stars of your life and we've had something happen over this evening.
A lot of people saw some sort of light in the sky.
Probably a meteorite or an old satellite or something coming back into the atmosphere
and burning up.
Excited a lot of people.
We had a lot of phone calls here.
I guess the airport had a lot of phone calls too.
So it's kind of one of those things.
We can't prove what it was, but that's more than likely what it was.
You weren't going crazy if you saw it.
Yeah, I don't think anybody landed here by any stroke of the imagination yet.
Let's take a look and see what's happened today.
High temperature in Eugene, 75 degrees, five cooler than normal, low this morning, 39, tied
the record low set back in 1973.
One one hundredth of an inch of rain actually reported out the airport.
Don't know if that's an accurate amount or not.
Let's take a look and see.
There's the country stuff.
What happened?
105, the hot spot in the country in Yuma, Arizona.
Tomorrow at a glance, morning fog and sunshine, warm weather and it's only going to begin.
Technically not really warm because we're still going to be below normal, but it'll
start improving.
Have more on the holiday weekend forecast coming up.
Certainly better than the 39 degrees.
Yes, much better.
All right, thanks, Tim.
We should also give a big thank you to Jody Enro.
She really did a terrific job filling in for us.
And thanks to her.
And of course, she'll still be here.
We'll see her in just a moment here.
We'll still head on Northwest News.
Why police agencies across the country may want to think about employing ostriches and
will tell you about a major recall in asthma and allergy.
Lane Transit District bus passengers have been enjoying a discounted evening fair for
more than a decade.
But officials say they're eliminating the cash fare reduction starting tonight.
Jody Enro is live at the LTD bus station with more about the price increase and what effect
it could have on passengers.
Jody.
Well, Randall and Jennifer, passengers who have been hopping on the LTD buses after 7
p.m. for more than 10 decades have been getting a half price fare, 50 cents.
But as of tonight, they'll pay full price, $1.
LTD officials say that they began the evening cash fare reduction more than 10 years ago
to increase ridership.
They say now with numbers up, they want to encourage riders to save money by purchasing
tokens and bus passes.
LTD service planner Andy Vobora says their fares are competitive with other bus systems
around the nation.
There are some that are higher.
San Diego, you'll pay $1.75 for a cash fare.
There are some systems in Washington that are actually free because they're funded in
a different manner.
They're funded through a sales tax.
And so they've just decided that the fare box doesn't bring them enough money.
So they just decide we're going to run the whole system for free.
So there's all over the board in terms of what's charged.
But we're right on par with the other systems in the country.
Vobora says most of our passengers won't be affected by the price increase because almost
80 percent of them use passes.
But he understands that others may feel the pinch in their pocketbook.
You're just a dollar subtracted from your minimum wage, which kind of lessens your will
to want to work.
Bennett says he probably will be forced to now purchase a bus pass, which for an adult
costs $28 a month for unlimited riding.
Reporting live from downtown Eugene, I'm Jody Unruh.
Back to you in the studio.
OK, thanks, Jody Unruh, for that live report from the LTD bus station in downtown Eugene.
Well, after a miserable summer of delays and construction, tonight all four lanes of the
Ferry Street Bridge are finally open to traffic.
That is welcome relief for the Union 76 station and other businesses on Coburg Road.
They've suffered through months of economic hardship as their customers have avoided the
area congested by construction.
The Union 76 manager says business has been down by at least a third.
Like I said, it's been really bad, you know, there'll be traffic tie-ups here, lines of
traffic, both ways, and nobody wanted to fight it.
But hopefully now things are really better.
The gas station owner says he had to lay off two employees to survive the downturn in business.
Construction around the bridge is scheduled to continue for several more months, but the
worst of the delays on the Ferry Street Bridge project may be over.
Millions of Americans will take to the open road for the Labor Day weekend, and hundreds
are expected to die.
Oregon's trucking industry is offering some friendly advice to try and prevent that from
happening.
Big rigs like these can weigh over 105,000 pounds, and passenger cars at about 7,000
pounds are no match.
The latest proof was a recent fatal collision near Mapleton.
To help prevent tragedies, especially over one of the busiest traffic holidays of the
year, the Oregon trucking industry is asking for a little help from other drivers.
Give a trucker's room and avoid riding in a trucker's blind spot.
Get past the truck.
Don't stick around and wait on the side of it.
Either side, driver's side or passenger side, you know, and go the same speed.
When you go to go past the truck, go past it and get on.
The National Safety Council predicts more than 450 Americans will die in traffic accidents
this weekend.
Teams who go to get their driver's permit or license after today will find a few more
hoops to jump through under new laws that take effect March 1st.
The DMV won't issue a driver's license to anyone younger than 18 until they've held
an Oregon instruction permit for six months.
It's going to be difficult for the parents, and I'm not sure that they're going to like
it all that much.
They have to have 50 hours anyway in order to get their license.
They'll have to certify that they've had 50 hours of driving experience, supervised
by someone at least 21.
The law also states that teen drivers can't carry passengers under 20 for the first six
months after earning their license.
They're also restricted from driving between midnight and 5 a.m. unless traveling to or
from a school function or job.
DMV officials are still working on many of the details of regulating the new system,
but expect to be ready by next spring.
Well, if fishing is on your calendar for this Labor Day weekend, you may want to head to
Diamond Lake.
That's because the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife is adding 5,000 rainbow trout
to the lake.
Each trout is estimated to weigh about two pounds.
A bill passed by the 99 Oregon legislature is helping to pay for all the new fish.
Temperatures dipped into the 30s overnight, but local farmers aren't panicking yet.
It's been a much cooler, wetter summer than normal, but the president of Lone Pine Farms
north of Eugene says the crops are surviving fine.
Last night, temperatures dipped to 39 degrees.
Unfortunately, there wasn't any frost.
Lori Jensen says she prefers this kind of weather to scorching heat, which can really
destroy produce.
Fishing vegetables are looking great right now.
The cool weather really hasn't affected us.
You just learn really well if you depend on the weather that you can't fight Mother Nature
and you just go with what comes every day and figure it's a beautiful day.
Jensen says right now peaches, tomatoes, corn, broccoli, and many other produce are at their
peak.
Lone Pine is also gearing up for its fall harvest and all of the Halloween festivities.
Good looking stuff there.
Just ahead on Northwest News, the weather has improved as the week's gone on.
Will the pattern continue through Labor Day weekend?
Jensen and Julie will let us know coming up next.
Hello, Kitty.
Public notice.
The official site for hundreds of new and used vehicles remaining from last week's Walmart
auto disposal sale.
Each Keepers location has low Walmart disposal prices on all leftover vehicles.
Save thousands to Keepers Mazda, Keepers Kia, Keepers Truck Town, and Budget Lot on over
75 fresh triggers from the Walmart sale and brand new cars, trucks, and sports shoes.
Every leftover vehicle must go.
Plus, zero down and zero percent financing.
Hurry in.
All leftover vehicles must go by this Monday.
Only at Keepers, the official site for the remaining Walmart vehicles at 1670 Gramm Chambers.
Chevrolet cars are trusted by more Americans than any other.
Chevy trucks are the most dependable, longest lasting on the road.
If that's not enough reason to own a Chevrolet car or truck, then this definitely is.
The Great Summer Drive-In from Chevrolet.
You can drive away in a select Chevrolet and get cash back up to $2,000.
Or choose APR financing as low as zero percent for 36 months.
Or check out the offers on other great Chevrolet cars and trucks.
It's Chevrolet's Great Summer Drive-In.
See your local Chevrolet dealer today.
With the most horsepower in its class, the Acura TL silences the competition.
Of course, with its sophisticated sound dampened cabin, you probably wouldn't have heard them
anyway.
The 1999 TL from Acura.
Bring on the sunshine for Labor Day weekend.
Oh boy, I have a feeling we're all going to like Tim after this one.
Yeah, at least through most of it, it's going to be perfect.
There's some clouds coming in by Monday, but I think the only place that has the chance
of seeing any rain might be right at the coast during the day on Monday.
We'll find out about that in a little while.
This is a snapshot from our Florence Cam a little earlier this evening.
Kind of pretty.
There's a lot of lights out there and hey, where can I say, but perfect weather coming
up the next handful of days.
And we'll take a look and see from live downtown.
This is what it looks like out there with lights.
It's dark.
Hey, that's kind of a normal thing to see.
And what else we want to take a look at is the current conditions outside.
Temperature at 51 degrees at the airport.
Winds are calm.
Relative humidity at 74 percent.
And the barometer is at 29.93 inches of mercury.
And it is steady.
Now, let's take a look and see what we can find is going on out here as we take a look
at our satellite and radar.
But first, we're going to kind of give you the big picture.
This shows you what's happening here around the whole globe as we spin around and we'll
take a look and see what's happening over the United States of America.
Here we are.
We'll put our radar and satellite view in here and watch what happens.
That is still Dennis.
Chop winds at only 60 miles an hour.
Only a tropical storm, but really wreaking havoc all across the East Coast from the Carolinas
right up through Virginia and possibly up as far north as the New England coast, too.
Our part of the country, not much is happening at all.
We're just looking in the southwest at some shower and thunderstorm activity.
They did have some storms there earlier today that were pretty serious.
This is all that's left right now and practically nothing happening here at all.
Here's what's happening closer to home.
We've got a trough of low pressure pushing eastward.
High pressure ridge out here is going to start getting rid of the clouds rather quickly and
we'll see some really improving weather.
Currently 51 degrees in Eugene.
Plus 59 in Roseburg.
55 at Coos Bay and North Bend.
We'll take a look at high temperatures for the day today.
66 at Coos Bay and North Bend.
75 in Eugene.
76 at Roseburg.
77 at Salem and at Medford, but the warmest.
81 degrees at the Dows where it's usually warmer.
In Ontario, only got to 73 degrees today.
Here's our futurecast.
Gives you the picture of it.
High pressure out here nosing its way in.
We'll really start clearing up the weather and give us some improvement here.
And back in the eastern part of the country, they're still going to be stuck with the clouds
and rain for the next 42 hours that are going to continue from what's left of anyway.
Dennis, midsection of the country, still more showers and thunderstorms.
Same around the Gulf Coast.
Let's get to our forecast now.
First of all, for the Cascades, clear skies overnight tonight.
Mostly sunny.
A beautiful day coming up tomorrow.
Highest pass temperature, 65.
Lowest down to 35 tonight.
And a freer freezing level, 8,500 feet for tonight.
Bend and Revin, frost warning in effect tonight.
Lowest could be 34 degrees in town.
Outside of town in the lower lying areas.
Could even be below freezing obviously.
Partly cloudy skies tomorrow.
High 68.
And for Albany and Corvallis, clear tonight.
Sunny tomorrow.
High 78 and a low of 44 degrees.
Coos Bend, North Bend.
Clear tonight down to 51.
Mostly sunny tomorrow.
A high of 69.
And for Roseburg, clear skies tonight.
Low 47.
78 for a high tomorrow.
Mostly sunny skies again.
And Eugene and Springfield.
Clear tonight.
Still chilly but not as cold as last night.
42 for a low.
78 sunny tomorrow.
Let's take a look at the extended outlook.
This really starts looking good.
We get up to the low to mid 80s by Saturday.
Sunday around 80.
Maybe even a little warmer.
But it's going to start cooling off later in the day as clouds start increasing and
the cold front comes in on Monday.
We'll tell you quickly what's going on with the football game.
If you're going to be watching, of course, you're going to want to know what's happening.
The Oregon versus Michigan State.
Game time is 8 o'clock Eastern time.
That's five hour time.
There it'll be clear.
75 around kickoff time.
Dropping to around 65 to 60 degrees before the game is over.
So perfect football weather even for the players, not alone just the fans.
And you're going to be wonderful too.
All right, thanks.
Go Ducks.
Well, you want to have a pen and paper handy for this next story that's coming up about
a recall on guest t-shirts.
And if you're thinking about having some fish and red wine for dinner tomorrow, your heart
may thank you.
We'll explain.
More than 78,000 guest t-shirts are being recalled because of a potentially dangerous
liquid filled bubble patch on the front.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission says the liquid contains a petroleum distillate
and could be harmful if injected.
The shirts were sold in clothing stores nationwide from June 1997 through March of this year.
The bubble patches are in the form of a heart, a circle, or a rectangle.
Customers can bring them back to any store for a refund.
Asthma and allergy sufferers may want to check their emergency injection kits.
More than half a million kits used for treating asthma attacks and allergic reactions are
being recalled in the U.S. and Canada.
The company that makes them says the drug used in them, epinephrine, may not be as potent
as it's supposed to be.
The recall involves three kits, the insect sting treatment kit, the Hollister's Stire
ana kit, and the anagard.
All of the kits are sold by prescription and cost around $40.
Consumers can call 1-800-999-9384 for more information on the recall.
Well, there may be two critical parts of your diet when it comes to preventing a heart attack.
Cardiologists meeting in Spain are buzzing about new studies on the beneficial effects
of fish and an occasional drink.
The study suggests just one to two portions of fish per week cut your odds of heart disease
by 50%.
The healthiest fish, the fatty ones like salmon, have healthy fatty acids.
When it comes to alcohol, previous studies have shown small amounts prevent heart disease,
but this study involving 21,000 physicians followed over 17 years shows that people who
had two to four drinks a week lowered their risk of a heart attack by 60%.
Those who had six or seven a week lowered it 79%.
Time now for sports again with Tom Ward and the Ducks.
It's getting down to the wire here.
Yeah, just hours away, so we'll have a report from East Lansing when we come back.
Back to school shopping at Walmart.
It's always one of our mother daughter days.
All over.
We spend the whole day together, nobody else, just the girls.
Whether it's school supplies or clothing, the prices are right and selection is great.
And we have fun.
I wore these when I was very every time you turn around, she's grown so fast.
So excited.
The best way for me to understand who my daughter is, is to spend one on one time with her.
It's a glue pen.
Cool.
If you can tap into it and be a part of it, you get to know your child that much more.
Find the area under the curve of the function y equals six plus x times sine of x, such
as zero is less than or equal to x is less than or equal to two pi.
No.
The University of Oregon football team is fast asleep in their hotel this evening in
East Lansing, Michigan.
After departing Eugene early this morning, the ducks took off from mainland sleep just
a little after eight a.m.
Once they hit the ground in Michigan, they went straight to Spartan Stadium for a walk
through.
Our Todd McKim is with the team in Michigan and has more on the eve of the season opener.
Spartan Stadium in East Lansing, Michigan, where in less than 24 hours the ducks will
open the 99th season against the Michigan State Spartans.
This marks the first time in six years the ducks have invaded Big Ten country.
The last time was back in 1993 when Oregon held off Illinois to win 13 to 7.
In fact, the ducks have won their last two games in Big Ten arenas, defeating Iowa 44
to 6 back in 1989.
State coach Mike Villotti enters tomorrow's game with a seven-year contract in hand, but
he's more concerned about his opening night opponent.
My concern is also that we may not be as efficient early offensively, get a big lead like we
did last year that took another game plan.
And so, you know, I look this to be more of a defensive game.
I think I hope it will be because I think that will favor us at least at this point
in the season.
And I think, you know, the noise factor here and it's a loud stadium.
It's a lot like Austin Stadium, a little bit bigger.
I think we're all concerned about that.
We're just concerned about a lot of the young guys in their first time playing, you know,
and a little, oftentimes it's a little bit better to start at home simply because of
the confines and the friendly environment.
But I think our kids are, I think there's enough leadership and maturity on this team
to hopefully get us through that.
I spoke with offensive coordinator Jeff Tedford about the quarterback situation and he said
that AJ Feely will get his first career start, but there is no set plan as far as rotating
or substituting of the quarterbacks.
They would like to get Joey Harrington into the ballgame, but if all is going well with
Feely, they will stick with him.
School is back in session here at Michigan State and your capacity crowd of 72,000 is
expected for the kickoff.
It should be a dandy between the Ducks and the Spartans.
In East Lamping, I'm Todd McKim for Northwest News.
Todd, thanks.
The M's in Medford tonight for their second straight doubleheader against the Timberjacks.
And well, they did a little better than last night, taking the opener in Southern Oregon
7 to 4, but they dropped the nightcap 4 to 1.
They'll have a single game in Medford tomorrow before they return home to wrap up the season
with a three-game series against Salem-Kaiser.
The Cubs in San Diego taking on the Padres and Slamming Sammy sitting at 55 homers on
the season, but not for long.
Top of the fourth, Sammy going deep.
A 430-foot shot, his 56th of the year, and the Cubs' 55th win of the year.
One-nothing Chicago, Sammy stays four ahead of Big Mac in the home run race.
In the National League, the Giants over Philly in 11.
The Pirates are one better than the Rocks, such is the case for the Braves over Cincinnati.
Milwaukee 5 to Dodgers 4, the Mets over the Stroes 9 to 5, St. Louis 9, Florida 3, and
the Expos 8 to 1 over the Diamondbacks.
The Mariners in the Windy City to take on the Sox and the M's busting out the big sticks
in this one.
One-nothing in the top of the seventh win.
Edgar Martinez, Jacks one to left, ties it at one apiece.
Then Jay Buhner, who you saw in the on-deck circle there, steps up.
He says, you know, that looks pretty good, but how about this one?
Back to back Jacks for Martinez and Buhner.
The Mariners hang on to win.
3 to 2, AL scores, Boston over KC 4 to 3, the O's over the D-rays 3 to 1, Toronto blanks
Minnesota.
The Indians ring up 8 against the Angels.
Texas doubles up the score on the Tigers, and the A's beat the Yankees 7 to 1.
So the home run race could be better than last year.
That's great, okay thanks Tom, we'll be right back.
Closed captioning of Northwest News is a public service of KVAL-TV.
Police in the small South African town of Senekal have finally hired someone who can
keep the car thieves away.
They've employed a three-year-old ostrich to guard the police car pound and prevent
parts from being stolen.
And so far the ostrich is doing a good job.
The man, as he's called, has sharp toenails and has successfully deterred car thieves
from taking parts from the lot.
Police say people just don't know how that ostrich will react and that's what keeps them
away.
A little scarier than a guard dog I guess.
A little friendly there.
Okay, thank you so much, spoken very well.
broadcasting. New high chairs that are said to be safer. Consumer Reports checks
them out. The details tomorrow on Northwest News this morning. Thanks.