Drive cautiously on highway during harvest season

Every morning, I drive by the sugar beet pile dump location on U.S. Highway 14A west of Ralston, including the morning of Sept. 16 when a horrific crash claimed the life of Joel Torres of Powell.

He was driving east, just like me, about a half hour earlier than my commute. We still don’t know exactly what happened, only that his car and the truck collided, leaving the father of two dead. From all we’ve heard, Torres was one of the nicest people you could meet, a good family man and, thus, a true loss for our community.

As a father of two myself, and an early commuter on that highway, I urge everyone to be cautious during harvest season, both those commuting to work and those burning the midnight oil to get beets to a pile or to Lovell for processing.

Especially in the early morning, drivers are hampered by no light, low light and then a blinding sun rising over the Big Horns. It makes for a tough situation, and one that makes it incumbent on all of those on the road to be alert.

It has been heartening to see the Wyoming Department of Transportation take steps last week to alert people to this issue. There is now a sign warning drivers to watch for slow beet trucks. And as long as the beet trucks are also watching out for regular traffic, I hope we can avoid any more tragic wrecks.

The incident is also a moment, as Torres’ wife Clari said so well, to make people stop and realize just how precious life is.

People can help the Torres family by donating money to an account set up in their name at Sunlight Federal Credit Union or by donating at gofund.me/8a87da7f.