Notorious intersection now worthy of Bear’s memory

  • [photo by Gary Meyer]

    [photo by Gary Meyer]

By Gary Meyer with Patric Hedlund

People say it all the time: “Do we have to wait until someone dies before they fix this roadway?” Too often, the answer is “yes.”

On June 20, 2005 Barry ‘Bear’ Weksler died. Weksler was a friend to many here on the mountain. He was killed when his motorcycle was struck head-on as a Jeep Cherokee waiting to make a left turn was slammed from the rear by an SUV, throwing the Jeep directly into the path of Weksler’s westbound motorcycle.

You know the intersection. It is the western corner where Frazier Mountain Park Road meets Mt. Pinos Way, where a roadside shrine has been…(please see below to view full stories and photographs)

Photo captions:

Paramedics and a resident try to save the life of Barry ‘Bear’ Weksler (inset) at the corner of Frazier Mountain Park Road and Mt. Pinos Way in 2005. He was dead on arrival at Kern Medical Center. In May 2013 two other nearly identical accidents sent more people to the hospital.

This week, an SUV prepares to make a left turn while other traffic passes safely at the newly reconstructed intersection known as Bear’s Corner. A loving memorial to Barry ‘Bear’ Weksler has been on the corner for 10 years.

Below: moments after a 2012 crash at the same intersection. Above: another crash at the same spot in 2013 at which a little girl, her mother and grandmother were hurt. A week later another crash occurred here.

Above and above left: One of four drainpipe heads now along the south side of Frazier Mountain Park Road. The photo of the car next to the drainpipe shows the drain’s substantial size, and the potential damage it could do to a car or bicyclist pushed into it.

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This is part of the September 4, 2015 online edition of The Mountain Enterprise.

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