"You can see the Crooked River Ranch people are clearly against the closure," said Sherman Kirchmeier as he hold pages of signatures.

Over 150 signatures have been collected by neighbors who live on Wimp way and in Crooked River Ranch. They do not want to see access to Wimp Way north of Terrebonne permanently closed.

Sherman Kirchmeier lives on Wimp Way. He's been active in collecting signatures. Deschutes County Commissioners have already agreed to the closure of Wimp Way. It was something the Oregon Department of Transportation wanted, sighting safety concerns.

Between 2001 and 2005 there were seven accidents on Wimp way, which ODOT says is high because the road only sees about 150 cars a day. It also predicts that traffic allong Highway 97 in that region will increase by 60% in the next 20 years.
Still residents want to keep the access to Highway 97 open.

"It was passed through in kinda a rush, we have one commissioner that actually was not voting at that time, was not on the board. I'm hoping that sane people are going to look at this and change their mind," said Kirchmeier.

Kirchmeier will be part of a group of neighbors who plan to show up at a joint meeting Monday between Deschutes and Jefferson County Commissioners. Jefferson County requested the meeting.

"We do realize that it's their jurisdiction as far as ODOT is concerned but it is our constituents, the majority of them are our constituents, that's why we want to see if we can persuade Deschutes County to change their position and we think there is a crack in the mood of the Commission," said Mike Ahearn, Jefferson County Commissioner.

Deschutes County Commisoner Dennis Luke says there will be no time for public comment at the meeting Monday.

>>