Neighborhood Honors Memory Of Crash Victims

When the clock on the wall of Theno's Dairy near Redmond stopped at 4:06 p.m. Aug. 30, the clerk on duty figured a line had gone down.

It had, shutting down electricity to a large area of the Sammamish Valley. But the power outage was the least of the problems that afternoon.

A trouble-plagued, 25,000-pound drilling-rig truck on its way to a job site in Woodinville had just sped past the dairy, down a steep grade of the Woodinville-Redmond Road, its horn blaring and lights flashing, apparently unable to stop.

As the truck roared through a red light and into the intersection, several vehicles were on Northeast 124th Street, starting to turn onto the rural state highway. One was a 1991 Isuzu wagon driven by Sue Dolan, 36, the wife of Snohomish County Fire District 1 Chief John Dolan. Their only daughter, Sarah, 12, was in the passenger seat beside her mother.

Sue Dolan had no time to react. The truck struck her wagon, sheared a power pole, then went into the ditch, landing on top of Dolan's wagon. Both vehicles burst into flames.

Dolan and her daughter were killed instantly. The driver of the drilling-rig truck, 34-year-old Leroy Roberts of Bremerton, was trapped and also killed.

State Patrol officials said the brakes on the 1954 GMC truck failed, and within a matter of weeks after the accident the King County prosecutor's office said it was considering charges against the truck's owner, and would decide shortly.

More than seven months later, there's still no word. But the neighborhood hasn't forgotten.

Today, a pair of bay mares graze in a field east of the crash site, and flowers, plants, several small evergreen trees, heart-shaped balloons and a white-painted wooden cross adorn the intersection as an impromptu memorial to Sue and Sarah Dolan.

It wasn't one person's idea, said Mary Schultz, a friend and neighbor of the Dolan family. The English Hill neighborhood, as well as Sarah Dolan's classmates,contributed to the memorial.

"I guess it's because nobody up here is ready to let go yet," she said.

The memorial began as a simple, temporary way for people to pay their respects. But not a month goes by when something new isn't added to replace the balloon that has floated away, or the flower that has wilted.

"When we lost Sue and Sarah, we were very hurt," said Keith Larson. "We're all very close and we wanted to do something at that corner."

A spokesman for the prosecutor's office said last week that Senior Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Mike Hogan is waiting for a report on the official cause of the accident from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) offices in Washington, D.C.

Ron Heusser, of the NTSB's regional office in Seattle, said he sent his report to the national headquarters in November, which cited problems with the truck's brakes.

Although prosecutors are still undecided about filing charges, the state Department of Labor and Industries recently levied $22,500 in fines against B&J Drilling, owner of the truck, citing the company for, among other things, failing to maintain the truck's braking systems, displaying willful disregard for employee safety, and failing to report to the state an accident in which an employee was fatally injured.

"This is all a bunch of bull," said B&J owner T.L. Cannon, who has appealed the state's fine. "They can crucify anyone they want to, but I've always kept my equipment in good condition."

Cannon, who was following Roberts when the truck went out of control, said his mechanics examined the brakes after the incident and determined there was nothing wrong with them. Some grease seals on the rear end of the truck were apparently leaking, Cannon said, but he doesn't want to speculate on the exact cause of the crash.

"It's really been driving us crazy," Cannon said. "The boy who we lost (Roberts) had worked for us about eight years, and he was like a son to me. All our sympathy goes out to Mr. Dolan, but we're hurting, too."

To Nancy Larson, the tulips and purple crocuses blooming in the yard of the Dolan residence are more than a sign of spring's renewal.

"I look at the flowers and think, Sue planted those bulbs," Larson said. "She was extremely fun and friendly and knew everyone on the street. I can still see her throwing back her head and laughing."

Even in close-knit neighborhoods, there are often people who don't know each other. But Sue Dolan knew everyone, and everyone knew her.

"That's why this (memorial) has gone on for so long, because she reached out to so many people," Schultz said. "She was such an extraordinary person, and her daughter was following in her footsteps."

Sarah, who had just finished the sixth grade at Sunrise Elementary School when she died, liked to collect dolls and baseball cards, and loved to read, friends say.

She often helped 11-year-old Tony Schultz with his homework.

"Me and Sarah would trade baseball cards together," Tony said. "She liked to play four-square a lot and she walked her dog, Molly, every day."

The memorial, Tony said, "sort of helps us remember."