Mike Coop
CRESWELL – Don’t expect a resolution anytime soon in the case involving Mike Coop, a 59-year-old Creswell man who was killed by a falling tree as he passed by a logging site on Hamm Road Sept. 3.
With multiple agencies involved and many moving parts, Lane County Sheriff’s Office (LCSO) Sergeant Scott Denham said it will be a long time until we see some answers.
The tree was being cut down from about 15 feet off the road when it fell on Coop’s Dodge pickup truck near the 28700 block of Hamm Road. Coop died at the scene.
LCSO Sgt. Carrie Carver said the tree fell in the wrong direction while two workers were cutting it down. LCSO, the Lane County Medical Examiner and Oregon OSHA are investigating the incident.
Those workers’ names, as well as the name of the property owner, will not be released until the case is closed or becomes adjudicated.
While the case is being investigated, Creswell mourns. Coop was a well-known and popular neighbor around town. People say he was a jack of all trades and could build just about anything.
”I knew Duane, Mike’s dad, when I was a Weyerhaeuser employee for 30-some years,” said longtime Creswell resident Don Walken, 85. ”We could have used him. He was a great mechanic and welder, and he hauled equipment for a number of firms.
”All of his equipment was properly used. He would have been a great employee.”
A dedicated logger and trucker, Coop bought his first log truck at age 15 – two years before graduating from Creswell High School.
Funeral services are scheduled for 11 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 14, at Eastside Baptist Church in Springfield. There will be a private burial at Sun Mountain Ranch in Cottage Grove. Memorial contributions may be made to the Diabetes Association or the Åmerican Heart Association.
The Chronicle will release updates as they become available.
