Hit-and-run kills 91-year-old man - News - MailTribune.com - Medford, OR

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Hit-and-run kills 91-year-old man Wednesday Nov 16, 2016 at 4:07 PM By Jeff Duewel Grants Pass Daily Courier CAVE JUNCTION — A 91-year-old man who died after a hit-and-run collision Monday night was walking home from Art's Red Garter, a saloon where he was a regular, a friend said. Max Milton Carter of Cave Junction died at Asante Three Rivers Medical Center in Grants Pass about six hours after the collision, according to Oregon State Police. OSP located a vehicle believed to be associated with the incident that occurred shortly after 7 p.m., and is looking for the driver. OSP didn't say where the suspected vehicle was found. A photo of the vehicle posted online by OSP suggested the car is a late 1980s Ford Escort. The rundown-looking car is black and has three distinctive-looking purple racing stripes on the hood. The hit-and-run occurred on Schumacher Street near Boundary Lane, a short distance from the entrance to the Valley Village apartment complex where Carter lived, and near the Taylor's Sausage plant. Neighbor and friend Mary Goepferd said she called the Red Garter around 9 p.m. and was told Carter had been there that night. "I talked to the bartender," she said. "I guess he was coming back from the Red Garter. We all know his habits." Goepferd said she'd known Carter for years. Carter moved there about 15 years ago. "He was nearly blind and didn't drive anymore," Goepferd added. "He'd walk everywhere. I'd see him around town." He also walked out in the street for better stability, Goepferd said. There are no sidewalks on Schumacher. "He lived alone, and he was lonely," she added. "His friends were dying off one by one." The street is dark and people tend to drive too fast on Schumacher, according to Sue Hamilton, another Valley Village resident. "I'm very cautious," Hamilton said. "I only walk my dog at the golf course." Troopers from OSP's Grants Pass office, along with detectives from the agency's major crimes division in Central Point, are continuing the investigation into the collision. Anyone who may have witnessed the crash or has information is asked to call Detective Brendan Quirke with the Oregon State Police Major Crimes Section at 541-776-6111. The crash occurred just over three years after a still-unsolved hit-and-run that claimed the lives of two men just outside Cave Junction. Robert Calvin, 41, and Jarred Houston, 21, were fighting on Redwood Highway when a vehicle struck and killed them shortly after midnight Oct. 30, 2013. The vehicle, described as a light-colored, 1980s-style Toyota pickup truck with a matching canopy, did not stop at the scene and has never been located.