Cliff Zauner
For State Rep Dist. 38
 I live where you live. Your concerns are mine as well.
By working together to improve our quality of life, we all win.

    I think the Hunting accident has some interest becasue it changed my life so dramatically.     I was enjoying life working at the Mill.   It provided plenty of money for a kid of 19, I had a new 55 pontiac car, and was having a lot of fun dating girls and water skiing with my boat on the river with my brothers.   I was old enough so that I could keep most of the money that I earned working, instead of contributing most of it to the family support as we all did with what we earned as kids.   All in all, four of us in the family had worked at the mill when we were old enough.   In fact, my brother Jim recently retired from the Oregon City mill after 43 years of service and raising 6 kids of his own.   My brother Ted (God Bless), had retired from the same mill several years ago, after raising 3 children.   That's what I might have done had not my life changed dramatically in September of 1956, when on a deer hunting trip in Central Oregon a terrible accident occurred.

    I was enjoying a gorgeous Fall morning in the wilderness, when one of my hunting companions mistook me for a deer and shot me with a 30-06 deer rifle.   That kind of removed the enjoyment out of it for me.   The funny thing about that was it happened to be buck season, which means that you should confirm that the animal has antlers before you target it.   I guess it's funnier in retrospect than it was at the time.   My friend felt pretty bad about it too.

    The bullet entered my right shoulder from the side, exploding as it hit, sending pieces of lead spinning through one of my lungs and breaking whatever ribs were in between it and my spine.   The jacket for the lead bullet stopped just short of my spine and was later taken out during minor surgery.   By the time the doctors at the hospital in Prinville had stabilized my condition (two weeks) gangrene had set in and for the next 77 days I was isolated while they worked to save the right arm.   Luckily, they were successful.   However, I was done for logging as I needed much recovery and to this day cannot raise my arm above my shoulder.

    This prompted my entry into electronics school...I received my degree and started my radio broadcasting career in 1958.   The rest, as they say, is history.

Back to previous page? Click here!

Back to home page? Click Here!