At 6'3" and 245 pounds, Oregon State Trooper Seth Cooney is an intimidating figure when he walks up to the driver's side window after a traffic stop. Photo by Rocky Wilson

What is slow to a trooper makes an evening of action for reporter

The message is unmistakable: don’t drink and drive in Wallowa County. To reinforce that message, officers from throughout northeast Oregon were on hand to provide police services during Chief Joseph Days last weekend.

It’s an impressive list: six police officers from the Union County Sheriff’s Office, two Tribal Police officers from the Umatilla Reservation, seven full time officers and one reserve officer from the Wallowa County Sheriff’s Office, three full time officers and one reserve officer from the Enterprise Police Department, one officer from the Oregon Liquor Control Commission, three Oregon State Police troopers and four marine patrol officers on the water at Wallowa Lake.

Looking for intoxicated drivers, police officers regularly stopped vehicles for routine offenses over the Chief Joseph Days weekend and found few drunk drivers. “The cooperation of the many different agencies is paying off through the years,” said OSP Trooper Seth Cooney, who agreed to allow this Chieftain reporter to ride with him on Saturday night.

Always telling the stopped motorist that his conversation was being recorded, the reporter – staying in the police vehicle – was able to hear much of the discourse between Cooney and the driver.

Cooney said that a big part of his job is to educate the public. On Saturday he did that in large degree by warning motorists and not giving them a ticket. “Just call me the Warning King,” he said good naturedly, well into an evening with few traffic stops that resulted in tickets.

To the average observer the trooper seemed relatively busy, noting illegalities and making U-turns in the highway, rapidly closing ground until he could call in the license plate number by radio to the OSP dispatcher in Medford and turn on his flashing lights. To Cooney it was a slow night. “This is as slow as it gets,” said the 245-pound trooper of a five-plus hour patrol that took us out Hwy. 3 north of Enterprise, to Wallowa Lake, and back to Enterprise on the Hurricane Creek Highway.

Possibly the most exciting moments of the evening came after returning to Enterprise from the North Highway when Cooney stopped a van that was traveling too fast in a 25 mph zone. As soon as the stop was made the driver jumped out of the vehicle waving his arms and Cooney later recounted his thoughts of the moment as being “here we go.” But the driver, from outside the area, was in distress because his daughter was suffering abdominal pains and in need of a doctor. Cooney led the van to the hospital and did not cite the father.

When the ride-along was completed and we were saying our goodbyes, Cooney took the opportunity to express his frustrations with Oregon laws in regards to marijuana. He feels that possession of less than one ounce of a drug that is, in its imported state, becoming increasingly more potent – listed legally in Oregon as a violation – is too lenient. He said that the smell of marijuana does not give law enforcement officers probable cause that a crime has been committed.

Following is a travelogue of the July 24 ride-along with OSP Trooper Seth Cooney:

6:05 p.m. – Reporter meets Cooney at Enterprise OSP headquarters. Fill out ride-along form and listen to troopers talking about previous evening’s activities.

6:30 – Leave headquarters with radio talking about an elderly man who had a stroke at Wallowa Lake.

6:50 – Patrol Hwy. 3. Meet a vehicle with a split tire accompanied by another vehicle with emergency flashers on. Do not stop.

6:52 – Meet vehicle driving 66 mph. Cooney turns around and pursues at a high rate of speed. Vehicle goes over yellow line. Driver stopped and cited for driving without insurance.

7:07 – Driving north again on Hwy. 3.

7:14 – Meet a vehicle driving 73 mph. Cooney turn around.

7:16 – Stop a vehicle with Washington plates, four persons with designated driver enroute to Chief Joseph Days. Cite for speeding and warn for registration.

7:28 – Back on the road heading north.

7:30 – Cooney parks in a favorite spot with good radar coverage, not very visible from approaching traffic. He transcribes from his ticket book to a log notebook and explains that 15 mph over the posted speed, or 70 mph in a 55 mph zone, is his “fair and impartial” line of demarcation for giving tickets.

7:52 – Head north again on Hwy. 3 and pull over a pickup with an obstructed license plate. Warning.

8:01 – Head back toward Enterprise, stop in roadway to remove tire parts from the road.

8:03 – Stop in same place to transcribe paperwork. Cooney explains that officers in the county are actively looking for DUIIs.

8:11 – Head back toward Enterprise.

8:21 – Back in Enterprise, park near Les Schwab.

8:25 – Pull over van exceeding speed limit. Driver gets out waving arms, saying that his daughter is suffering abdominal pain and needs medical assistance. Lead to emergency room at Wallowa Memorial Hospital. No ticket.

8:42 – Back on the road.

8:43 – Stop at Wallowa County Sheriff’s Office for sandwich and a soda.

9:06 – Back on the road.

9:08 – Return to hospital to retrieve pickup keys which were on elderly gentleman who had stroke to take back to Wallowa Lake State Park.

9:10 – Back on the road.

9:16 – Pull over camp trailer running without taillights. Warning and allow driver to drive across town to leave trailer at his shop.

9:27 – Back on the road.

9:29 – Stop pickup with only one taillight. Warning.

9:33 – Back on the road headed toward Joseph.

9:38 – Stop driver at Eggleson Lane for driving on the yellow line. Warning.

9:45 – Back on the road. Cooney comments that it is difficult to make stops with rodeo traffic going the other way. Some faulty equipment violations are seen and not addressed.

10:03 – Deliver keys at Wallowa Lake State Park. Talk with park rangers.

10:08 – Back on the road.

10:14 – Up on Powerhouse Road, Cooney runs a license check of a pickup sitting by itself well away from the trailhead. Twenty seconds later he gets a satisfactory response from the dispatcher in Medford.

10:23 – Leave Wallowa Lake.

10:24 – Park beside road with lights off, and monitor traffic.

10:26 – Stop vehicle that makes last-second left hand signal. Warning.

10:36 – Back in Joseph.

10:43 – Drive by carnival.

10:45 – Drive out Hurricane Creek Hwy.

10:49 – Meet up with OSP Trooper Greg Retherford at Hurricane Creek Grange.

10:54 – Back on the road.

10:59 – Meet a car that swerves. Turn around in rapid pursuit. Driver is pulled over and another law enforcement officer from WCSO arrives. Driver agrees to search of his vehicle and nothing is found. Tests for alcohol and drug use are given with negative results. Warning.

11:12 – Back on the road.

11:18 – Back at OSP headquarters and both reporter and Cooney clock out.