We received an interesting note from Sue Engels (Dave's wife) on March 8th, 2012 describing a recent adventure.  It was actually a note she wrote to the Canby Oregon Mayor and the Council... outlining why she missed an important budget meeting.

I thought you might like to see it.

Personally, I'm just happy to hear that she made it through and is back to work...

Dear Mayor and Council:

It’s my understanding that some of you were upset that I wasn't at the Council meeting when the supplemental budget was up for approval.  It was definitely my intention to be there.  However, sometimes one’s plans get disrupted.

From Sunday, March 4 through Wednesday March 7 at noon, I was attending the Oregon Municipal Finance Officers Association (OMFOA) spring conference in Bend.  Wednesday afternoon I was driving back from the conference.  Twenty-four miles west of Sisters on Highway 20 at Lost Lake, I hit a patch of ice and lost control of my car.  I was out of control in the oncoming lane about to have a head-on collision with a Les Schwab semi, when I was able to regain enough control to pull to the right.  My car glanced off the truck’s trailer tire which pushed me back across the highway into the snow-packed guardrail.  My car climbed up the guardrail and flipped over onto its top in the travel lane.

My car is totaled, but I sustained remarkably little damage.  I have some cuts on my left arm from the shattered glass of the driver’s side window.  So there I was hanging upside down in the seatbelt not badly hurt.  I open the driver’s door, released my seatbelt and climbed out.  By then there were people approaching my car worried about what there were going to find.  I spent the night in Sisters with friends and took the Greyhound home on Thursday.  I’m back at work today feeling grateful to be alive.

While it wasn't my first thought while I was hanging upside down in my car, it was about my third or fourth thought that I was probably not going to make it to the Council meeting to answer your questions about the supplemental budget.  But I thought it would probably be alright since I went over most of the items in the budget at the January 25th meeting.  By the way, the reason Greg or Kim didn't tell you what had happened to me was because they didn’t know how seriously I was injured—something to do with medical privacy.

So, if you would like to call or email me with questions about the budget, please do. 

Cheerfully,
Sue