BRIEFLY.

Byline: The Register-Guard

METRO

School track team unhurt after bus driver faints

Members of a high school track team escaped injury Saturday when their bus driver apparently passed out while crossing the Ferry Street Bridge.

According to a Eugene Police Department report, the incident occurred about 11 a.m. when the Tualatin High School bus was on its way to Hayward Field for a track meet. As it was crossing the bridge at about 35 mph, track coach Paul Zitzelsberger noticed that the driver was unconscious.

The coach reached over the driver and grabbed the steering wheel then turned right onto Third Avenue. The bus struck a small street sign but was brought to a stop without further damage and no injuries.

The driver was taken to Sacred Heart Medical Center in stable condition and kept overnight for observation, the report said. No citations were issued.

The bus carried 14 students and adults. They were taken to the meet by Eugene police and other parents following the bus.

Police credited Zitzelsberger for safely maneuvering the bus off the busy road and said his actions avoided what could have been a serious collision.

NORTHWEST

AWOL soldier's claims lead to Army inquiry

SALEM - The Army has launched an investigation into an AWOL soldier's charges that he was misled by a Salem-based recruiter.

Capt. Brian Peterson said his investigation was prompted by media reports in which Jeremy Crawford said he was lied to by a recruiter who allegedly told him that the Army would supply him with medication for anxiety and depression.

`Any time there's any suspicion of fraudulent behavior, anything of that nature, we always investigate,' Peterson said.

Crawford, 31, of Salem said that Sgt. Renny Lutz, a recruiter at the Army's South Salem recruiting station, assured him that he would receive psychiatric medication at basic training.

Crawford also said Lutz advised him not to disclose his medical history during a pre-enlistment physical exam, and that Lutz suggested that he stop taking his medication before the exam so that it would not be detected by blood testing.

After Crawford enlisted and was sent to Fort Benning, Ga., he said, military personnel told him that they were not allowed to dispense mood-stabilizing drugs.

Crawford said he fled basic training April 8 because he felt as if he were losing his mind.

Juvenile chinook salmon die at tribal fish ponds

GORST, Wash. - An estimated 1.6 million baby chinook salmon, almost ready for release to swim out to the ocean, have died in fish-rearing ponds on Gorst Creek, Suquamish tribal officials said.

Debris washed into the creek from recent rains clogged an intake pipe, apparently causing the fish to die from oxygen deprivation, said Marcia House, a fish pathologist with the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission. The dead fish were removed Wednesday.

`It appears to be a water-flow problem,' House told the Kitsap Sun. `There were no indications of any fish-health problems.'

Jay Zischke, the tribe's salmon program manager, said the loss amounted to about 90 percent of the 1.8 million juvenile chinook salmon that were set for release.

`It is painful to go through one of these events and see so many fish die rapidly,' Zischke said.

The incident is expected to slash the number of adult chinook returning to Gorst Creek in 2010, when most of the adults would return to spawn, probably meaning reduced opportunities for recreational, commercial and tribal fishing.