Brief by Martha Quillen
Regional News – October 2003 – Colorado Central Magazine
These Sure Weren’t Disney Tales
Bizarre animal stories were a Fairplay Flume standard this August.
First a bear nabbed a llama near Bailey in late July….
Bear Bait
Nora Terrell awakened one morning to find her llama missing from its pen and her barbed wire fence torn apart but she merely thought that her llama had escaped — until she saw huge animal prints nearby.
The llama was subsequently found dead in a creek bottom about an eighth of a mile away with scratch marks on its hind quarters. And Ty Petersburg, a Department of Wildlife officer, concluded that it had been killed and dragged away by a bear.
Terrell was surprised by the loss, since her llama was big, unneutered, and “had an attitude.”
But Petersburg talked to a neighbor who had witnessed the attack, and later he warned the community to be careful about attracting bears with garbage, bird feeders, and caged animals.
An attack on a large, healthy animal is rare, but: “Bears are opportunists,” Petersburg said, and they’ll “see what they think would be an easy meal whether its wildlife or domestic animals.”
[Old RR Bridge near St. Elmo named to National Register’
Deer Damage
Wynne Forbert was driving down U.S. 285 when a deer came flying through her windshield, seemingly from nowhere. Blood and flesh showered both Forbert and her vehicle, and the animal landed with its head nearly in her lap. The driver’s door popped open, and Forbert fell out.
Realizing that her vehicle was starting to roll backwards down the highway, Forbert managed to reach inside and grab the brake petal, but a “terrible smell” arose.
As it turned out, the deer had been hit by a vehicle in the oncoming lane. That driver rushed over to help, and Forbert was subsequently taken to a hospital and treated for a facial laceration and scratches.
Forbert’s 2003 Toyota Highlander did not fare so well, however. Originally, Forbert’s insurance carrier instructed a local garage to leave the car exactly as it was because he feared that the insurance company might not believe the massive extent of the damage.
But days later, the deer was still inside — because no one could stomach the overwhelming stench long enough to remove the mangled carcass.
And so the Toyota sat as far away from the garage as possible awaiting the arrival of an insurance adjustor.
From the Files
of the Park County Investigation Team….
The Fairplay Flume ran an interesting series in August, which featured some of that compelling mix of mystery and forensics that’s so popular this television season. But Park County’s version of probing pathology would have had to debut on the Animal Channel.
Animal CSI
Richard Grumet of the American Bison Company and ranch patrolman James Jenkins didn’t believe it when veterinarian Kerry Madole ruled that a 2,300 pound bison had died of natural causes. The animal’s tongue and genitals were missing, and there appeared to be a gunshot wound in his side.
But a necropsy showed that the bison had degenerated kidneys, Madole reported, and he concluded that the cause of death was Redwater, a bacterial infection. Madole believed coyotes had eaten the missing body parts.
Apparently, scavengers typically prefer certain organ meats, and start at the back and move forward, eating butt, bladder, and genitals, then finally the tongue.
But Park County Sheriff Fred Wegener noted that there had been numerous complaints involving livestock made in the last three years. Fences had been cut, gates left open, and bison turned loose. So he investigated despite the veterinarian’s conviction that the animal had died of natural causes.
Unfortunately, however, this wasn’t television.
Grumet suspected methamphetamine poisoning, but Madole said that the drug could only be detected in live patients and in post mortem urine samples. And in this case, “coyotes already ate the bladder,” so urine samples couldn’t be taken.
A second examination did reveal bits of metal, however. Madole thought it may have been bird shot or fragments from a .22 shell that the bison may have carried with him for a long time. Madole, however, did think that three raised spots on the Bison’s neck were suspicious — except the wounds didn’t appear to be fresh. Though a histopathology report was still pending, Madole thought the tissue was probably too degenerated to reveal anything.
In the end, the investigation proved inconclusive, and the dissected bison was left in the pasture for scavengers. What else could they do? “It weighs a ton,” Madole said.
And just in case gory forensics
aren’t your thing….
The Flume featured another story: one that might have played well on Oprah’s Miracle Network.
Survivor
A group of Platte Canyon High School students went four-wheeling on Red Cone Mountain on August 24. Allen Thomsen and Chris Allen had driven ahead, and got out of their car to wait.
Then lightning struck. Allen heard what sounded like gunshots and Thomsen went limp and fell down.
Smoke rose from Thomsen’s body; his sock was fused to his shoe, his belt buckle was blown apart’ and his tongue ring had blown out. A strike had entered through Thomsen’s chest and exited from his right foot.
But his friends kept their cool. Jessica Folsom started mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and Allen started chest compressions. Another friend called 911, and Thomsen started to come around.
Thomsen was transported down the mountain to a Flight for Life Helicopter which took him to St. Anthony’s, and less than a week later he was home. The high school senior will have to see an eye and ear specialist and get regular checkups in the future, but he’s feeling pretty good.
Maybe It’s Not A Miracle, But….
Leadville’s Herald Democrat featured a guest column entitled “Insanity is defined as doing both 100s,” by Orlyn Skrien who entered both the Leadville Trail 100 foot race and Leadville Trail 100 bike race hoping to become the first person over 60 to officially finish both races.
And he did finish both! But he spent half of the editorial lamenting how he started too fast in the foot race and ruined his time.
Skrien finished second in his age group in both events.
Small Town Boy?
Though Park County may be in the center of Colorado, events there weren’t front and center in Denver media stories this fall. That distinction goes to Richard Paul White, 30, a “drifter,” and “serial killer.” But as it turns out, White has some Central Colorado connections.
“Richard Paul White grew up quietly in a small town in southern Colorado,” The Denver Post reported. That town, Mesita, is south of Alamosa. White’s father was once the police chief in San Luis, and White’s very first arrest happened in Custer County, where he was picked up for shooting from a public road (White pleaded guilty and paid $72).
Relatives characterize White as “a good guy,” and “a good uncle,” who “gave no indication that anything was wrong.” And the Post keeps dwelling on his small town roots and rural beginnings reporting: “This small town near the New Mexico border used to be a place of refuge and solace for the White family,” and “Stepmom, friends never saw a violent side to helpful youth known as ‘R.P.'”
But this bittersweet story of a small town boy surprising everyone by going bad doesn’t quite hold up. One neighbor in Denver said White yelled racial slurs at people, and another neighbor claimed he’d seen White chasing someone with a gun. A girlfriend charged White with domestic abuse, and White’s sister called police about his possible involvement in the death of his friend Jason Reichardt.
Thus White was picked up in connection with Reichardt’s murder, but while in custody he confessed to killing several women, and gave police directions to find two buried bodies, which were later exhumed.
Detours Next Summer
The old Redcliff arch bridge is scheduled for replacement between April 1 and August 1, 2004. Leadville commuters who regularly drive over the bridge to get to Eagle County can detour through Redcliff or take Colo. 91 and I-70. But CDOT won’t be advertising the Redcliff route because they don’t want to encourage heavy traffic down the town’s narrow streets.
In 2005 and 2006 U.S. 24 is scheduled for widening from the bottom of Tennessee Pass to Malta, at which time Harrison Avenue, Leadville’s main street, will be completely redone.
High Speed Chase Ends Well
Adam Andrews, 23, of Bailey led police on an extended chase on August 29. After the Park County sheriff’s office started getting 911 calls reporting a reckless driver, Sheriff Fred Wegener started looking for the vehicle, a white 1983 Datsun 280Z.
Wegener spotted the vehicle on Red Hill Pass, but Andrews passed the sheriff on a double yellow line and kept on going. Wegener estimated Andrews was going about 120 mph, weaving, and passing unsafely, but the sheriff couldn’t get close.
Murry Parish of Oklahoma was on his way to Weston Pass with friends to go camping when Andrews slammed into his vehicle. Murry and his friends were taken to Salida for treatment of back and neck injuries, but Andrews kept going, racing over Trout Creek Pass toward several vulnerable towns.
So Chaffee County law enforcement officials joined in the effort to stop him, clearing the highway and setting up a roadblock on the east side of the Arkansas at Johnson Village.
Andrews drove off of the roadway, however, and down an embankment and back up on the other side of the police cars, then continued south, until Chaffee County Sheriff’s personnel finally managed to block his fleeing car near Nathrop.
Andrews was taken to the Chaffee County Jail and booked on charges of vehicular assault, reckless driving, and felony eluding. Bond was set at $100,000. Salida Police, Buena Vista Police, and the Division of Wildlife also participated in the effort.
