Jared D. Parsons was sentenced to 75 months in prison for his role in the automobile accident that claimed the life of a Molalla girl last April.

Parsons, a 19-year-old Oregon City resident, was convicted on a second-degree manslaughter charge and a fourth-degree assault charge for the part he played in the death of Harlynn Margaret Hansen on April 27.

Hansen, 17, a junior at Molalla High School, was a passenger in Parsons' vehicle when it struck a pickup truck on Canby-Marquam Highway. Witnesses told police at the scene that Parsons was attempting to pass another vehicle in a No Passing zone along the road. Hansen died at the scene, while Parsons was transported to Oregon Health Sciences University with injuries.

The driver of the pickup, Steve S. Thoreson, 35, was treated and released from Willamette Falls Hospital.

Following the crash, a grand jury found there was enough evidence to bring charges against Parsons. In mid-August, Parsons was arrested and taken to Clackamas County Jail, where he pleaded not guilty via a video link during his arraignment hearing with Maurer.

According to testimony at the trial, Parsons was racing another vehicle driven by Kamal J. Salem, 18, of Canby. Salem was found not guilty of criminally negligent homicide by the jury.

On Friday, Clackamas County Steven Maurer sentenced Parsons for the charges, which will be served in a state prison. Following his sentence, Parsons will have three years of post-prison supervision. Maurer also revoked Parsons' license for eight years, and prohibited contact between Parsons and the Hansen family.

When he first discovered the small nick on his right shin back in early August, Ray Fields didn't think much of it.

Little did he know this seemingly harmless, minute marking on his leg would ultimately transform his life.

Fields, a 57-year-old English teacher and former basketball coach at Canby High School, had unknowingly been bitten by a hobo spider, or aggressive house spider, and nothing could prepare him for the nightmare that lay ahead.

It didn't faze him much at first. It was nothing more than a reddish, irritating puncture - the kind left behind by a bee or other small insect. But something about this bite was different. Rather than heal as time went by, it only got worse.

"I didn't pay much attention to it, but it wouldn't go away," said Fields, who had never had an experience with spiders before. "Like I said, I never even felt it. I suspect I got it while I was working on my bushes in the yard. Before long, I couldn't ignore it any more. By three weeks, it was turning red and the area was increasing.

''Those around me kept telling me, 'You've got to get that checked out.' I did, but by then I had waited too long. I just had no idea.''

Initially, he was treated with antibiotics and ointment and told to check back in a month. But the stinging, throbbing pain was becoming unbearable. In September, as school was starting, a scab began to develop. The area, once confined to a small nick, was now about three inches in length. Fields couldn't believe what he was seeing - or feeling.

By now, the sore was so bad he had to check in at a wound clinic, where blood tests were conducted. He was given another ointment to apply and a compression sock to put on.

The pain was "unbelievable," Fields said.

"I was screaming and yelling every time I had to put that stuff on," he said. "Then I find out later from someone else that the ointment had salt in it. They couldn't believe I was putting this stuff on an open wound."

Eventually, Fields would go through three kinds of ointments, just as many antibiotics and a series of compression socks before, in late December, his doctor admitted there was nothing more he could do for him. Fields would have to see a surgeon.

The surgery, a procedure designed to cut the area out and prepare it for a skin graft, took place Jan. 5. Unfortunately, it didn't go well.

"My heart went wild, and my blood pressure shot up," Fields said. "I was all screwed up, and I had one of those out-of-body experiences where I could hear myself talking but it was if it was someone else. It was surreal.

Needless to say, I don't want to go through that again. I'm not sure I'd survive it."

Since then, Fields has been elevating the wound and taking it easy in his recliner at home. Teaching school, for now, is out of the question.

The most basic of tasks - sleeping, walking, working around the house - are a challenge now. If anything, the experience has opened Fields' eyes to how good life can be when you are healthy.

"I will never take my health for granted again," he said.

Fields also has some words of wisdom for those who happen to discover a bite mark on their person.

"Don't wait as long as I did to get it checked out," he said. "If you suspect it was a hobo, get it looked at and treated as quickly as you can."

The spider, common in the Northwestern United States and Southwestern Canada, is a reclusive funnel-web spider that typically lives in dark, hidden nooks and crannies of the house. It isn't uncommon to find them, but they aren't the type of spider to come out into the open.

It is brown in color and often has a sergeant's chevron on its abdomen. "They live in the house and often bite people in bed," local exterminator Brandy Ham said. "The thing is, it's very seasonal. Most all the bites occur between late July and into September, when the male is at its most aggressive."

To combat it, Ham recommends people regularly check and clean their garages and interior areas, where the spiders would most likely take up residence.

He also suggested putting a flea collar inside vacuum cleaner bags as a means of killing pests that could potentially nest in them.