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A tragic realization

Posted by Jonathan Maus (Publisher/Editor) on March 1st, 2007 at 7:43 am

Yesterday I dropped into Black Sheep Bakery on SE 8th and Main to get a sandwich and some coffee.

I hoped to finally meet the owner, Amanda Felt, whom I've come to know via email after I posted a story about her bike-thru window about a month ago.

Amanda wasn't there, so I chatted with an employee named Quinn.

When I mentioned the other employee I'd met last time I was in, I immediately sensed a change in Quinn's voice. She asked, "Oh, didn't you hear what happened to Dawn?"

I could tell by her tone that it wasn't good.

My tragic realization came when she told me that Dawn, whose last name I never did write down, is Dawn Slawta, the woman involved in a nearly fatal crash in northeast Portland in the early morning hours of February 8th.

Dawn collided with a pickup truck while riding her bike through the intersection at NE Skidmore and 15th. She is still unconscious and just recently came out of a coma. She has swelling in her brain and her condition remains very serious.

I still can't believe that just two weeks prior to that incident I was chatting with her and goofing off while getting these photos for my story...

My heart goes out to Dawn's family and friends and I hope these photos add a bit of light to these dark times.

Get well Dawn. We're all pulling for you.

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Comments
  • Tim Jackson March 1, 2007 at 8:10 am

    Very touching and sad Jonathan. SO much can change in an instant.

    My heartfelt sympathy goes out to Dawn and all of her loved ones and friends.

    Speedy recovery.

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  • Sara March 1, 2007 at 8:38 am

    Thank you, Jonathan, for updating about Dawn. She's been in my thoughts.

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  • jami March 1, 2007 at 9:23 am

    dawn helped me the first time i biked through, too. she was really upbeat. it's good to hear she's out of the coma. if there's anything we can do to help her recovery, i'd like to. did black sheep have a donation jar?

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  • Justa March 1, 2007 at 9:26 am

    geez...there's another good vegan bakery in town whose co-owner (i think) was in a really bad wreck a few weeks ago, as well.

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  • jami March 1, 2007 at 12:17 pm

    i went by black sheep this morning, and they are taking donations for dawn.

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  • allison March 1, 2007 at 2:43 pm

    i was at the Alberta co-op yesterday looking for my favorite Monkey Wrench cookies only to find a sign where the cookies should have been saying that they have halted production because of a tragic accident (am i the only person here who bikes around town trying to find these cookies, because they are so yummy?) anyway, there was a donation jar at the register that explained further that the woman in the bicycle accident on NE Skidmore was the woman who is (in part) behind the scrumptious Monkey Wrench cookies. putting the pieces together, i'm gathering that Dawn is this person. if i am wrong, my apologies. regardless, i hope she will be all right, and back to baking and biking in no time. (and this is not just so that i can have cookies.)

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