REMINISCING

With Debra and Ashley gone for the weekend at a ladies retreat, I’ve been spending part of the day looking through old photo albums and remembering things from the good old days. Good old days?

While in college, I purchased a 1959 Ford Fairlane for $200 from a friend of my brother Dean’s. I also rented a room in a house in downtown Sacramento for $40 a month while attending school in Davis, about 15 miles away. One morning, as I was driving my Ford Fairlane through an intersection on my way to school, I was hit broadside by another vehicle. Initially, I did not know I was hit.

I had been following an 18-wheeler, which had blocked my view of an upcoming traffic light. He must have crossed the intersection on a yellow light, and I’m guessing it turned red by the time I entered the intersection. The truck blocked my view of the light. I never saw it.

Suddenly, I felt an impact and a tightness around my waist. I unbuckled my seatbelt to relieve the pressure around my waist and I immediately passed out. When I regained consciousness, I was lying on the front seat of my car, my head hanging out the passenger door. I remember spitting on the street and seeing blood. I remember hearing a baby crying. I remember hearing sirens approaching. As I was helped into an ambulance, I remember seeing and hearing people cursing at me.

I had caused an accident. I ran a red light and was struck on the driver’s side of my car by another vehicle, which was crossing the same intersection from my left. He had a green light. The impact pushed me out of the door on the passenger’s side and knocked me unconscious.

Nobody was seriously injured. I was ticketed for running a red light and the other party accepted a $1500 out-of-court settlement for the expenses I caused them. In 1971, that was a ton of money. I was in my third year of college and had little money and was driving without insurance. Back then, a minor was anyone under 21 years old. I was a minor for about another three weeks at the time of the accident, so my father was legally responsible for the $1500 settlement. He was not too happy.

I broke the bones in my left shoulder, leaving several loose bone fragments in my shoulder, and I needed to wear a shoulder brace for several months. During that time the Vietnam War was still going strong and the draft lottery system had begun. My lottery number was 28 out of 365 - not a good number for someone who did not want to go to Vietnam. I was among the first to board an Army bus from Sacramento to Oakland for a physical exam at the Induction Center. I took an x-ray film with me.

The physician performing my exam hung the film on a lighted view box, noticed the bone fragments in my left shoulder, and said, “You’re not going”. I was classified 4-F, physically unqualified for military service.

Dean and I each rented a room in the same house built in the 1880’s. Dean took this photo of me sitting on the hood of my 1959 Ford Fairlane in a parking lot behind the house.

At the time of this accident, March 9, 1971, a reporter from the local newspaper, The Sacramento Bee, was instantly on the scene. In this clipping you can see a police officer helping the innocent victims of the crash I had just caused. (Clicking the photo sometimes makes it bigger). You can also see someone holding a blanketed baby, which was also involved in the accident. The force of the other car opened the passenger door of my Ford Fairlane. I was still unconscious when this photo was taken. You can see my right hand and the left side of my face hanging out the passenger side of the car.