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Crash kills Talent woman photo by Drew Fleming Five kids in her van injured, two critically By Chris Bristol JACKSONVILLE � A Talent woman was killed Sunday and five passengers were injured, two critically, when the minivan she was driving was struck head-on by another van that had been seen going the wrong way down the road. Jackson County sheriff�s deputies said the other driver caused the crash and appeared to be drunk. Jane A. Talos, 43, was pronounced dead at the scene of the wreck, which occurred on a moderate S-curve on rural Hanley Road just minutes before 5 p.m. Sheriff�s deputy Dace Cochran said a black, full-size Ford van driven by John Gertsch caused the wreck when it sideswiped a guardrail and then veered head-on into a light blue Ford Aerostar minivan driven by Talos. He said deputies found an open 40-ounce bottle of beer in Gertsch�s van and that Gertsch, 41, appeared to be intoxicated. Cochran said Gertsch was taken to Rogue Valley Medical Center, where he was breathing on his own. "It doesn�t appear that he suffered life-threatening injuries," the deputy said. "We did a blood-draw at the hospital and we�re sending it to the (Oregon State Police) lab for testing. It could be a day or two before we figure out how to proceed with this case." A witness at the scene, Kathleen Mohla, said the van driven by Gertsch was traveling in the wrong lane just before the crash occurred. Mohla, who was following the van at a safe distance, said "He was driving straight down the wrong lane." An indirect witness to the crash, Elina Inget, said she was picking peppers at a farm near the accident scene when a woman ran up, frantically screaming for help. "She was screaming, �Do you have a cell phone! There�s been a bad accident. A drunken driver has hit somebody,� " Inget recounted. All five passengers in Talos� minivan were injured, two of them critically, Cochran said. Their names and ages were not available, but Cochran said they appeared to be teenagers, some of them Talos� children. Hanley Road was closed to traffic for more than an hour while firefighters struggled to free the victims from the wreckage. Cochran said he was receiving expert assistance investigating the crash from state and Medford police. According to court records, Gertsch was cited Dec. 9 for driving with a suspended license. Gertsch failed to appear for court in March and was fined $56 in . It was unclear why Gertsch�s license was suspended in the first place. Authorities in Multnomah County sued him in May for child support, and court records there indicated the case emanated from the state of Washington. Gertsch apparently was driving alone. Court records listed two addresses for him in Medford, one in the 2400 block of Senate Way and the other in the 2500 block of East Barnett Road. Obituaries | Sports | Business | Classifieds | Tempo | Prime Times | So Oregon Sites | Outdoor Journal | Subscribe | Contact | Movies | Advertise | Real Estate Showcase | Archive | Editorials | Letters to the editor | Religion | Wake-up Call | NIE | Cyber Chef | Job Network | So Oregon Weather | WSJ Northwest | Forums | AP Wire | AP Money | F.A.Q. | Awards Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. The Community Newspaper Subsidiary of Dow Jones & Co, Inc Copyright �The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA